


Rock Bottom

by Writesalott



Category: The Infernal Devices Series - Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Background Relationships, Coming of Age, F/M, Growing Up, Hurt/Comfort, Life in peices, Loss of Control, M/M, Malec, Sad Alec, Sizzy - Freeform, Slow Build, Starting Over, house repossessed, jessa - Freeform, non-homophobic parents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2019-06-16 00:56:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 30,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15425475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writesalott/pseuds/Writesalott
Summary: Sometimes the events of life are completely beyond your control. Enduring the moment is hard, but it's what happens after that counts. Only a week from graduating high school Alec's world comes crashing down. There is a for 'Sale Sign' on his front lawn as his family walks to the nearest motel. Beta: Allieanna. A growing up/coming of age story with romance later.





	1. Home

When the first man showed up, Alec hadn't really known what was going on. After watching his mother leave the room in tears, Alec was worried. When more men showed up and started taking things away, Alec knew nothing would ever be the same again. Still he protested, trying to take back household items, yelling at the men that those weren't theirs to take. When that failed, Alec looked to his parents. His father only sat and stared, while his mother was sobbing silently in a corner. Neither one of them acknowledged his questions, so all Alec could do was try to comfort his younger sister as they watched helplessly.

His mother's sewing machine, his father's record collection, his sister's makeup kit, and every other household item made their way out the door in the arms of strangers. As he watched, Alec spotted the corner of his favourite blanket sticking out of a box. He remembered once falling asleep as a child when his mother tucked him in with that blanket. The family television followed shortly after the box with his blanket in it. Next went the box that Alec suspected contained the family's physical movie collection, a mix of DVD's and VHS's. The tapes for sure were very old, and could well have been home videos that had never been ditalized. Another stranger walked out the door carrying a laptop, though whether it was his mother's, sister's, father's or his own, Alec didn't know. Just as he had no idea why everything was falling apart before his eyes.

Just as the house was starting to look hollow, Alec heard the tell tale sound of his father's car being started and driven off the lot. As the house emptied out even more, rather than feeling hollow, it began to feel soulless. Very suddenly Alec wanted nothing more than to leave, but he'd lived in this one place for all seventeen years of his life. There was nowhere else to go. So instead, Alec sat against the wall with his arms around his sister, just existing, as they watched everything they'd ever known be taken from them.

As the shock began to wear off, reality sank in, and Alec couldn't help thinking about the cause of this. His parents clearly weren't about to explain why the men had put up a 'For Sale' sign on the lawn. Alec found himself wracking his brain trying to figure it out, but nothing really came to mind. Nevertheless, Alec kept pouring over the events of the last few months, as if looking for an explanation.

Over the last month or so, his parents had started staying up very late working in his dad's office, and yet they'd still be awake before Alec left for school. Alec remembered once asking them if he could help, but his mother had just smiled and said everything was fine, then advised him to do his homework. Last week Alec had overheard them yelling as he'd walked past the office. Now he wished he'd stayed to listen instead of running past. Then again, how could he have known? Even if his parents had been acting weird for a while, there was no way staying to listen at the door could have prevented this, right? Then again, since Alec didn't know the cause, how could he know what could or could not have helped?

Time moved very strangely as the house emptied out. By the time it was over, Alec was somehow sure that nothing he could have possibly done would have prevented him from losing everything. He didn't know why this was happening, but he sensed somehow that he'd had no choices in it, no choice at all.

Alec now stood on the street in front of the house that was the only home he'd ever known. It was a beautiful house if you asked him. Vertical wooden siding stained a rich blue covered every inch of the house, including the two car covered garage that Alec's dad had used for woodworking. The front yard was a testament to his mother's gardening talents, with two large trees for shade, and flower beds of all types around them. Alec had particularly liked the plants that grew on the raised flower bed that ran along the driveway. As it was a two car garage, the driveway fit at least four, though only by blocking the two cars packed in the back.

A wooden gate on the left lead to the backyard where Alec knew there to be a deck off the dining room. And on that deck was his mother's hammock and herb garden. Down the stairs, and into the main backyard, was her raspberry patch. Alec remembered as a kid having raspberry picking parties, since they produced far too many berries for his mother to pick alone. Then there was the fire pit where Alec could remember many evenings spent roasting marshmallows with his sister and her friends. There was a small red shed to the right of the raspberry bushes that Alec knew had once been home to the lawn mower and his father's winter tires. Alec's mind flashed back to when he and his sister had played rock, paper, scissors to see who got stuck mowing the lawn, and who got to go out and have fun. If Alec recalled correctly, he'd lost. The thought made him smile now, even while he was crying.

Alec looked down at the garbage bag in his hand that currently held everything he owned in this world: clothes and a toothbrush. Alec was pretty sure he'd heard the men offer to drop them off somewhere before leaving in his father's car, but Alec was also sure he'd heard his dad turn them down.

Someone started walking, and soon they were all moving out of the suburbs and towards town. No one spoke as they walked. They passed so many beautiful homes, and Alec couldn't help but resent them all. They had been walking only about ten minutes when a van pulled up and stopped beside them. Alec recognized the vehicle at once, and wasn't at all surprise to see his little sister run desperately towards it as if she were drowning, and it was the only life raft.

"Let her go," Alec almost ordered his parents when they tired to stop their fifteen year old daughter from getting into a strange van. Even if they didn't know that van, Alec did. That was Simon's mom's van, and Izzy would be safe with him.

As they kept walking, Alec wondered when Izzy had managed to contact Simon. Alec certainly hadn't been smart enough to text or call anyone before they'd taken his phone away.

And now it was Alec's turn to ignore his parents questions. Izzy had confided in him just last week that she's started seeing a guy at school a few months ago, but she hadn't told their parents yet. There was a certain satisfaction in being able to hide things from his parents in this moment, but eventually Alec explained he knew the guy, and she'd be fine.

"I still don't like it," his mother, Maryse, began. "She's too young to be sleeping over at a boy's house."

"Let alone a boy we haven't met," his father, Robert, seconded.

"Well, you don't get a say," Alec snapped, stopping dead in his tracks and turning on them both. "I may not understand what the hell just happened, but I know it had something to do with you two." He paused for just a moment, then added with extra anger. "This is your fault, and if I had anywhere else to go, I'd have run off too!"

This seemed to stun both his parents into silence, and so Alec turned and kept walking. He was by now pretty sure they were headed to a hotel for the night, but the closer they got, the less Alec wanted to get there. He was starting to envy Izzy's escape.

Alec had never yelled at his parents before now. In fact, up until recently, they'd been two of three of his favourite people in the world, the other member of that group being his little sister. He could remember only too well how they'd reacted two years ago when he'd come out to them, both with smiles on their faces as they tried to re-define normal. Alec wasn't allowed to have sleepovers with his male friends after that. His parents logic was that if he was straight they wouldn't have let him have girls over, so gay means no guys sleep over.

Alec had always considered himself lucky. He'd never wanted for anything he really needed. He had the unconditional love and acceptance of his family, as well as being a gay man in the twenty-first century. He was good at school, and though by no means popular he'd never been bullied. So he wasn't the best at making friends, but he hadn't felt isolated either. Thanks to his mother's rule, his friend Maia had probably spent half her elementary school years at his house, while his other friend Jace hadn't been over once, despite being as straight as an arrow.

As they walked up to the horrid motel, and Alec watched as his father tried to check-in but be denied, it was like all his luck had run out. Moving forward, Alec took out his wallet which was all he had now, apart from clothes and a toothbrush, and used his own money to check them in. No one spoke as Alec took the key and lead his parents farther into the building. One look at the rooms, and Alec considered burdening either Maia or Jace for a place to crash tonight, but something stopped him. Alec was't sure if it was pride or shame, and he didn't work too hard to try and figure it out. Instead he just collapsed on the uncomfortable bed, at least grateful in that moment that the people who'd taken the house hadn't taken his allowance as well. It was now clear that every cent his parents had was gone if they couldn't even check in to a motel like this. Alec had no idea what the future would hold, but he was at least glad in this moment that Isabelle wasn't here.

Sleep eluded him as Alec tried to sort through his thoughts. With Izzy only being fifteen, Alec wondered if she'd end up in foster care. Alec's high school graduation was only a week away, and since it looked like college was out of the question now, he supposed he'd have to find a job. He wondered if there was something he could do to keep his sister out of foster care. After all, she only had two more years of high school left, well two years and three weeks. Alec was too mad at his parents right now to worry about what would happen to them. His father had worked at a bank for years, while his mother had managed a jewelry store. But at this very moment, Alec wasn't totally sure if either of them were currently working. If they were working, would that mean Izzy would have a place with them? Or was there even more bad news on the horizon Alec hadn't even begun to think of?

A deep sigh escaped him as Alec stared up at the motel ceiling. No matter how much he thought about it, tonight there was nothing he could actually do. It was getting late, the sun had long ago set through the small motel window. Alec closed his eyes. He was so tired, and tired in a way he hadn't known before. Emotionally exhausted he focused on quieting his mind. He would need all the sleep he could get on his lumpy mattress if he was going to face tomorrow.

As Alec lay there, staring at the ceiling tiles he tried to focus only on which ones were yellowing or clearly had water damage, but his mind kept getting off topic. The idea that he'd have to go to school tomorrow felt very strange and alien to him. How could something so normal happen after a day like today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think of the first chapter of my new story! I know it's starting at well Rock Bottom but I promise there isn't anywhere else to go from here but up.  
> \------------------------------------  
> Sneak Peek Chapter 02
> 
> Despite the fact that Alec hated circuit he rather liked their teacher, and that wasn't just because Mr. Herondale looked like an older version of Alec. Despite his bad sarcasm and often cranky mood, Mr. Herondale was a fair teacher and genuinely seemed to love his subject.
> 
> Mr. Herondale's whistle blew again, and everyone had to stop running and pick a station. Alec and Jace ended up lifting weights for the minute before the running started again.
> 
> Usually only the first twenty minutes of gym were dedicated to circuit, and today was no different. When the running torment finally ended, Mr. Herondale had them all play dodgeball, also known as the gym teacher equivalent of watching a movie.


	2. School

When Alec woke it took him a whole thirty seconds to realize he wasn't in his own bed. Had he slept over at Maia's place? Blinking in the low morning light Alec took in the water stains on the ceiling, and suddenly it all came flooding back to him. His own bed wasn't his any more; it belonged to strangers in official looking uniforms like everything else he'd ever called his own.

This bed was far too uncomfortable for a lie in, so Alec got up. Collecting some clothes out of the garbage bag on the floor, Alec went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. It was a strange feeling knowing in the last few minutes he'd used everything he owned.

Abandoning his sleeping - or possibly pretending to sleep - parents, Alec left the motel and started his walk to school. It took him a moment to get his bearings, what with this motel being nowhere near where his old home had been, but with the help of a few landmarks Alec figured out where to go. The whole thing made him miss his cell phone even more for the sake of it's GPS.

Even without getting more than a little lost, Alec was still late for his first class. He ducked into the back row hoping his teacher wouldn't notice. To his surprise it looked like he'd succeed, until the end of the class when his teacher singled him out.

"Alexander," Mr. Carstairs said gently as people were leaving. "Please stay behind."

It only took about a minute for the classroom to empty, but to Alec it felt like forever. On top of everything else, was he about to get in trouble for being late?

"Some troubling news has reached me," Mr Carstairs began. "Am I wrong in thinking that your parents house was repossessed yesterday?"

"No, you wouldn't be wrong about that," Alec replied, strangely relieved that at least life wasn't adding to his problems by giving him detention.

"I know you are graduating next week, and high school is basically over for you," Mr. Carstairs continued. "But as I've been your Science teacher for the last five years, I do want to help in any way I can."

"Thanks," Alec replied, genuinely grateful. "I'll remember that."

"If you need a place to stay for a little while, or anything, all you have to do is ask and my wife will make up the spare bedroom for you," Mr. Carstairs smiled.

"Mrs. Grey you mean?" Alec inquired.

"Yes," Mr. Carstairs smiled. "But I'm sure if you were sleeping on her couch she'd let you call her Tessa."

"I thought you said you had a spare bedroom?" Alec asked, though he supposed a nice couch would be more comfortable than the motel mattress he could still feel the springs from.

"Metaphorical couch," Mr. Carstairs corrected. He looked up at the clock on the wall behind Alec's head then added, "Shouldn't you be getting to your next class."

"Oh, right," Alec said almost jumping as he ran off towards his locker.

It was strangely wonderful to open it and find that all his school stuff was still there. He'd never been so happy to see his binder, calculator, and textbooks before in his life. This meant he had a pen to his name!

"You are alive!" Alec turned to see his best friend standing there looking very annoyed at him. "Why didn't you answer any of my texts?"

"My phone was confiscated," Alec replied.

"Oh, come on," Maia scoffed. "We are too old for our parents to still be confiscating our phones."

Taking a deep breath Alec turned to explain. "My parents didn't take my phone. In fact, they got their phones taken as well. Their house was repossessed yesterday along with everything in it," Alec said evenly. "I slept in a motel last night."

Maia just started at him for a moment, her mouth slightly open.

"Honestly, I really really don't want to talk about it," Alec sighed. "Can we please talk about you?"

Alec turned away, his muscles tensed as he waited to hear how she would responded.

"I see," Maia said softly. Then her tone changed completely, and she added in her usual voice. "Well, if you'd checked your texts you'd know that Jordan and I broke up again last night."

"How many times is that now?" Alec laughed, relieved she'd changed the topic. It felt so good to laugh.

"Oh, I've lost track," Maia shrugged with a wave of her hand.

"Let's see," Alec smiled, distracting his brain from his own problems to focus on hers. "You two first went out in what, eighth grade?"

"Yep," Maia smiled. "For a whole four weeks."

"Then you got back together over the summer," Alec began counting on his fingers. "And broke up before Christmas."

"Oh, but we got back together for about a week at New Years," Maia piped in.

"I don't even know if that counts," Alec sighed. "Weren't you just worried you'd have no one to kiss on New Years?"

"No," Maia dismissed the idea at once, though Alec knew he was right. "It was the way the timing worked out. Had nothing to do with New Years."

"Ah uh," Alec smirked, giving her a look of great disbelief.

"Anyway," Maia continued. "After that we stayed broken up for a while."

"And by awhile, I think you mean about eight months," Alec replied with a smile.

"No way," Maia scoffed. "It was more like ten."

"And that takes us into what?" Alec mused. "Tenth grade?"

Maia only had time to nod before they reached their next class. Alec sat in the back of Math class, and all but tuned Mr. Morgenstern out as he continued to count the number of times Maia and Jordan had broken up and got back together throughout high school, even going so far as to make a few notes. After all, it wasn't like he really needed to listen. The lessons were just exam review anyway, and Alec didn't have the energy to take any of it in. By the end of the class he had it all worked out. Including their break up last night, the final count was nine. If history was any indication - and Alec's math was right - Maia and Jordan would be back together within five months.

"So in a way, you were doing Math," Maia chuckled at him as they left the classroom.

"Yeah, and you need to stop messing with that poor guy's heart," Alec replied. "Or you'll end up at an even dozen."

"Oh, like you can talk," Maia scoffed as they reached their lockers once more. "Apart from that crush on a straight guy, you never even gave me the name of what high school relationships have you racked up?"

"Zero," Alec replied, even though she already knew the answer.

"Exactly," Maia huffed, but she was smiling. This was far from the first time he'd gotten the third degree for being chronically single.

"Yeah, yeah," Alec waved his hand dismissively. "I'll see you after gym class." Closing up his locker Alec headed towards the front of the school and into the gym.

In his gym clothes, Alec walked out onto the circuit where he spotted Jace in the corner and waved.

"Did you forget to charge your phone again?" Jace asked the moment he was within ear shot.

"Long story," Alec replied. He really didn't want to get into this again, especially not with Jace.

"No worries," Jace shrugged. "Wasn't that important anyway. I was just super bored last night."

"I think the last few weeks of high school are just like that," Alec replied. "We've done the grad ceremony, and finished the curriculum, so it's just review and exams left."

"And gym it seems," Jace sighed as Mr. Herondale gave them the signal to start running.

Despite the fact that Alec hated circuit he rather liked their teacher, and that wasn't just because Mr. Herondale looked like an older version of Alec. Despite his bad sarcasm and often cranky mood, Mr. Herondale was a fair teacher and genuinely seemed to love his subject.

Mr. Herondale's whistle blew again, and everyone had to stop running and pick a station. Alec and Jace ended up lifting weights for the minute before the running started again.

Usually only the first twenty minutes of gym were dedicated to circuit, and today was no different. When the running torment finally ended, Mr. Herondale had them all play dodgeball, also known as the gym teacher equivalent of watching a movie.

"I think the best solution is just to close the school till exams," Jace was whining as they changed out of their gym clothes. There had been a time when Alec would have found this very distracting, but he'd gotten over his crush on Jace years ago. Even if the after effects of it were that Alec still had a nagging desire to impress Jace, or at the very least, not embarrass himself around Jace.

"Do you want to go to Principle Graymark and tell him that, or should I?" Alec laughed.

"Don't give me ideas," Jace grumbled as they dragged their feet to their last class of the day.

This was one of the few classes Alec didn't have any of his friends in since either Jace nor Maia had taken Art classes once they were optional. It wasn't so much that Alec had a great interest in art, or a great talent for it for that matter, but rather that he enjoyed the time spent doing the activity itself. There was something therapeutic, or even meditative in putting pencil to canvas.

Like always, art class seemed to fly on gilded wings as Alec sketched. Today his drawings all seemed to include a dark presences or twisted form of reality. Ms. Fairchild - as she liked to be refered to as since her divorce - glanced over at his work a few times during class, but didn't directly comment on the nature of them.

And then school was over…

Alec suddenly felt vulnerable again, as if the days school had formed some sort of protective layer between the events of yesterday and himself. Tomorrow Alec would be able to return to school for much of the day, but what was he to do between now and then? Should he go back to that motel? He hadn't seen Izzy at school today, so did that mean he should go to Simon's place and check on her? There was always the option of returning to Mr. Carstairs office and taking him up on that metaphorical couch. Or should he ask Maia or Jace if he could stay over tonight? He very much doubted his parents previous sleepover rules mattered anymore.

While his mind wondered Alec had somehow made from Art Class it to his school locker. Placed his books back inside, Alec simply stared at them.

"I know you don't want to talk about it," a soft familiar voice spoke on his left. "But, I think you should."

"Can I sleep at your place tonight?" Alec whispered.

"Of course," Maia replied. He could hear the smile in her voice, though he hadn't turned to face her. He stayed very still, unwilling to turn and engage with her. Alec liked the safety of the school. Apart from a few moments, school today had been the same as it had always been. Here he'd been able to forget the state of his life, pretend it had never happened. But now that he was faced with leaving this place that fantasy was shattered.

"Come on, I think mom's making meatloaf," Maia said trying to encourage him.

"Ew," Alec whined. "Why does she do that so often anyway?" Maia shrugged, and it was then that Alec realized he'd turned without thinking about it to express his dislike of the dinner choices. An automatic smile formed on his face as Alec took a moment to appreciate how lucky he was to have a friend like Maia who always knew exactly what to say.

"I think it's some kind of parent rule," Maia continued as if this were serious business. "Having children must have somehow cause people to want to cook meatloaf."

"Somehow I doubt there have been any double blind studies on that," Alec replied with a half-hearted laugh.

"I don't know," Maia countered. "It's a big world. Who knows what people have studied."

"I'm going out on a limb here in saying that anything meatloaf and reproduction have in common is nothing but a coincidence."

They were walking out of the school doors now while Alec tried to remind himself that he'd get to come back tomorrow. He had to focus on this moment in time, only if he was to get through the next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think so far? Please leave me a review and tell me what you think! Thanks for taking the time to read my new story. :)  
> \---------------------------  
> Sneak Peek Chapter 03
> 
> As he sat in Math class Alec tried very hard not to add. He didn't want to count the days until he wasn't supposed to be here anymore. He didn't want to think about what would happen next week when his exams were over and adulthood hit him square in the face. For there would be no putting it off to go to college as he'd expected. Until two days ago his whole life had been laid out before him, a neat little path with many guarantees of support and structure, but now that path was shattered and all Alec could see of his future was emptiness. No matter how he tried the image wouldn't form in his mind. Alec couldn't picture tomorrow. He could imagine what he might want it to look like, but he couldn't see that future with his own face. A stranger held this imaginary life that no longer mixed with his own.


	3. Safe

When Alec walked back into the school the next day he felt better somehow. There had been nothing wrong with sleeping the night at Maia's, but it wasn't home. Then again neither was school, but it felt more like home than anywhere else he had at the moment.

Alec was glad to see Izzy in the hall today. He was feeling strangely isolated without his cell phone, and hadn't known how to check on her. For that matter, Alec hadn't even seen his parents since he'd left them asleep in the moteln and he hadn't spoken to them - really spoken to them - since the men had come to repossess the house. He wasn't totally sure if he wanted to talk to them at all right now. Then again, even if he did want to talk to them, neither him nor his parents had a phone number - landline or cell - to their name at the moment, so it wasn't like he could to reach them anyway.

As he sat in Math class Alec tried very hard not to add. He didn't want to count the days until he wasn't supposed to be here anymore. He didn't want to think about what would happen next week when his exams were over, and adulthood hit him square in the face. For there would be no putting it off to go to college as he'd expected. Until two days ago his whole life had been laid out before him, a neat little path with many guarantees of support and structure, but now that path was shattered, and all Alec could see of his future was emptiness. No matter how hard he tried, the image wouldn't form in his mind. Alec couldn't picture tomorrow. He could imagine what he might want it to look like, but he couldn't see that future with his own face. A stranger held this imaginary life that was no longer mixed with his own.

On top of school ending, Alec also was trying not to think about where he'd sleep tonight. For it was all very well to stay over at a friends house for one night, but he couldn't do that forever. Maia would be going off to college soon, and it wasn't like he could stay there with just her parents. He was sure they'd try and say yes, but it still felt wrong. It would be a similar situation for any of his other friends. Jace only had his grandmother, and she barely had room for Jace. Alec wasn't about to impose himself on Imogen. Besides, though he hadn't voiced them, Jace might have plans to go to college as well which would once again leave Alec alone with a friends parent, and that is not where he wanted to be. The longer he sat and stared at the wall, the more Alec realized that his only option was his Science teacher. It wasn't exactly where he wanted to be - the idea of living with a teacher was a strange one to say the least - but if he didn't want to sleep in motels until his allowance ran out then he really didn't have another option. It was such a powerless feeling.

When Math class ended it was lunch, and Alec headed off right away to see if he could find his sister. He saw her sitting with Simon eating what looked like a homemade sandwich. Finding himself once again envious of his sister, Alec announced his presence and sat down opposite her.

"Where'd you get the grub sis?" Alec asked, trying to be casual.

"Elaine made me lunch," Izzy beamed.

"Mom's been great," Simon smiled. "At first I was worried she'd be uncomfortable with me asking if my girlfriend of just a few weeks could stay over, but after she heard why she was really supportive."

"Yep!" Izzy smiled. "She said I can stay as long as I want… though I don't know if that actually means until I graduate."

Alec was glad to see his sister was in good spirits, though it confused him slightly. Hadn't they been through the same thing? Why was she smiling when he felt like the ground had been yanked out from under him? It didn't feel fair somehow.

As lunch continued, Alec noticed something different about the way she looked at Simon. It was then that he realized why she hadn't felt the full impact of their parents crisis. Izzy was focusing on the more time with her boyfriend part of the equation rather than 'the what the hell am I going to do with the rest of my life' part of it. Once he realized this Alec couldn't even blame her. If he'd had that option he was sure he'd have followed in her footsteps. Besides, she was still two years from graduation. She hadn't been expecting mom and dad to start paying her tuition in the fall. Despite them both losing the same house, the levels of their loss seemed to differ greatly. Izzy was accepting the charity that comes with telling people a story like theirs, so why couldn't Alec do that? Why couldn't he just take Mr. Carstairs up on his offer and be done with it?

"Oh, I almost forgot to ask," Izzy said as lunch break was ending. "Where are you staying?"

"At Maia's last night," Alec replied. He sighed then added with effort. "But my Science teacher offered to put me up too."

"I think it's a great idea," Izzy said.

"I don't know," Alec mumbled.

"Oh hush," Izzy scoffed. "You were never very good at accepting help. Never liked it when people bought you things, but listen to me. You need to learn."

"I don't need to learn to be a mooch," Alec countered.

"Accepting help when you need it isn't being a mooch," Izzy corrected him. "Now march your butt down the hall and tell Mr. Carstairs you want to sleep on his couch."

"He has a spare bed," Alec said automatically.

"Even better!"

With a sigh Alec collected his things and got up from the table. Lunch was over anyway. He hadn't eaten much, but he'd worry about that later. First there was art class. He tried to empty his mind as he painted the sketch he'd made yesterday. Listening to Ms. Fairchild chastise the student behind him quickly turned into Alec's favourite entertainment for the day.

"I don't want buts," Ms. Fairchild continued. "I want a finished final project before graduation."

"You aren't being fair," the student whined. Alec was pretty sure his name was Isaac. "Alec's even farther behind on his project, but I don't see you telling him off."

"That's because I know Alec will be in after school and over his lunch hours for the next week to finish his," Ms. Fairchild explained. "While you barely show up to actual class."

"Why did I take this stupid subject?" Isaac grumbled once the teacher's back was turned.

"I heard that," Ms. Fairchild snapped. She spun to face him and continued. "Finish your final project and you'll never have to participate in my 'stupid' subject ever again." With a slight huff she turned away from him, clearly frustrated.

Grinning, Alec got back to his painting. It never failed to make his day when his teachers thought well of him. Alec had never gotten the impression that his parents really cared about the grades he achieved so long as they weren't C's or D's. Therefore, if ever Alec's B's turned into A's it was always due to his love of the subject itself, or the admiration of his teachers.

True to his nature, Alec came back after school to sit in the art room and put off the inevitable by painting. Usually when he did this he used his phone for music, but today there was only silence as he put brush to canvas.

"Alec," a kind voice spoke to his left. He didn't need to look up to know who was speaking.

"I'll be done before the end of the year," Alec promised his art teacher. "Never you fear."

"Oh, I wasn't worried about that," Ms. Fairchild replied with a smile. "Besides, even if you didn't, it's not like your marks are so low you couldn't pass anyway."

"Is that why you were giving Isaac greif?" Alec chuckled. "Because he needs this last project to pass?"

"He needs it to pass better," Ms. Fairchild countered. "But essentially yes."

"You're a good teacher, you know," Alec told her.

"Thank you," Ms. Fairchild replied. "That means a lot to me, Alec." He just nodded. She didn't speak for a moment as he filled in the leaves on the landscape he was painting. "Have you given any thought to James's offer?"

"James?" Alec asked confused.

"Mr. Carstairs," Ms. Fairchild explained.

"Oh," Alec replied. "Umm… I guess."

"We just want to make sure you have somewhere to go," Ms. Fairchild continued.

"And by we, you mean?" Alec inquired.

"The staff," she explained. "Not to sound like a gossip, but you've been a topic of conversation in the staff room lately."

Alec chuckled. "Seems only fair," he replied. "We students gossip about you teachers too."

"Really?" she said looking slightly dubious. "Like what?"

"Your divorce from Mr. Morgenstern climbed up the grapevine like wildfire," Alec explained. "Oh, and is it true that you have a new romance going on with the principle that you are trying to keep quiet so as not to get in trouble with HR?"

"Well, it seems the students are far better informed than I realized," Ms. Fairchild said cooly.

"Oh, and is it true that you have a teenage daughter who doesn't go to this school because she threw a fit to avoid having both her parents as her teachers?" Alec giggled.

His teacher sighed. "I wish that one weren't true," she answered. "Clary did always have a stubborn side." She paused, then continued as if pulling herself back to the moment. "So, have you talked to Mr. Carstairs about his offer, or have you found other accommodations?"

"I still need to talk to him," Alec sighed. "I just don't want to."

"Ah yes, pride is a powerful beast," she smiled at him. "But remember, there is no shame in accepting help when you really need it. Actually, there is a certain strength in admitting you need help."

"Rationally, I know that," Alec said slowly. "But still-" He stopped, unable to really explain the strange feeling in his stomach.

"It isn't easy growing up," she smiled at him. "And I won't lie and say it gets any easier once you do."

"That isn't very comforting," Alec whined.

"What's the rest of your family going to do?"

"My sister is staying at her boyfriends place," Alec explained. "And I don't know what my parents are doing. I haven't even spoken to them since…"

"I see," she said softly, smiling at him. "Well if you want my advice, I'd say one step at a time."

"One day at a time more like," Alec sighed. But he knew she was right. "Alright, I'll go talk to Mr. Carstairs just as soon as I finish these trees."

"Sounds fair," she smiled at him. Then turned and sat down behind her desk before starting on some paperwork.

Alec couldn't be sure if he was just trying to make it take longer, or if the paint had become far more stubborn than usual. He only left the art room when Ms. Fairchild said she had to lock up. Walking down the hall, a part of him hoped that Mr. Carstairs would have gone home by now, but either his art teacher had secretly texted his science teacher, or Mr. Carstairs liked to work late. Approaching his classroom Alec knocked on the door.

"Come in," replied a calm voice.

"Hi," Alec said awkwardly as he entered the room.

"Alexander," Mr. Carstairs said with a smile. "What can I do for you?"

"Aren't you curious why I'm here hours after school ended?" he asked confused, or possibly just procrastinating.

"I would assume you've been in the art room," Mr. Carstairs replied.

"Oh right," Alec said feeling a slight blush on his cheeks as he remembered how predictable he was. Mr. Carstairs seemed to be waiting for Alec to speak. Swallowing nervously, Alec began. "I was just wondering if that offer to stay at your place was still good?"

"Of course," Mr. Carstairs smiled.

"Then I'd like to accept," Alec said nervously.

Mr. Carstairs smiled. He had such a kind smile, dark brown hair with wisps of white, and a slim build that made you want to offer him half your lunch.

"Do you have any things we will need to pick up?" Mr. Carstairs asked.

"I left some of my clothes in the motel," Alec explained. "But my toothbrush is in my locker."

"Surely there must be more than that?" But Alec shook his head. "Alright then. I was just about to head home, so why don't you swing by your locker for your toothbrush then follow me to my car." Alec nodded and quickly fell in behind his teacher as they made their way down the hall. He detoured slightly to his locker, then met back up with Mr. Carstairs at his car.

It was a very familiar feeling, getting into the car of an adult he trusted. It reminded Alec of all the times he'd done the same thing with his parents. Alec was just about to ask why they hadn't left yet, when he saw Mrs. Grey walk out of the school and join them. Of course, it made sense that a husband and wife who worked in the same place at the same time would carpool.

As Alec sat in the backseat of his teachers car and listened to them exchange pleasantries he realized that for the first time in days, he felt safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a slow to develop the Malec side of things but I ask for patience! This story is very organically structured and it's taking longer to take shape than some of my others. #WritingStoriesWithoutOutlines ^_^  
> \-----------------------------------  
> Sneak Peek Chapter Four
> 
> As Alec walked out of the school for the final time as a student, he felt a great sense of loss. What the hell was he going to do with his life now? He walked back to the closest thing he had to a home, dragging his feet the whole way. What was he going to do tomorrow with no tests to study for and no classes to attend? Worse yet what would he do if his teachers suddenly decided to kick him out? Why had they taken him in anyway? After all they had hundreds of students; what was so special about him?
> 
> Alec knocked on their door, feeling odd as he did it. Yet it would feel strangers to just walk in uninvited. Mrs. Grey answered the door.
> 
> "You know you can just walk in right?" she said. "I mean you do live here."
> 
> Alec shook his head. "Feels wrong," he said. "Sorry."
> 
> "Don't be sorry," she smiled at him and turned to allow him past the doorway, closing the door behind him.
> 
> "You hungry?" Mrs. Grey asked. "I was just about to make dinner?"
> 
> "Shouldn't we wait for Mr. Carstairs?"
> 
> "Jem is gonna be working late tonight," she explained. "He has tests to mark."


	4. Forward

At the moment it seemed as though the brightest points of light in his life were Mr. Carstairs and Mrs. Grey, both of whom had repeated asked him to call them by their first names, but Alec just couldn't do it. There was something intrinsically wrong about calling a teacher by their first name, though he couldn't put his finger on what.

Through meetups at school, Alec knew Izzy was still comfortable at Simon's. He'd made a point of checking in with her as often as he could. His parents had tried to get in touch with him through the school once or twice, but he'd ignored them. He wasn't ready for that conversation. He wasn't ready for high school to end either, but no matter how he wished it to be different, time kept moving forward at a fixed rate. No matter how his exams went today it would mean the end of his publicly funded education. The end of his childhood. The world was rushing him, and all Alec could think to do was duck.

As he walked out of the school for the final time as a student, Alec felt a great sense of loss. He walked back to the closest thing he had to a home, dragging his feet the whole way, as if making the process slower would somehow prevent it's happening. What was he going to do tomorrow with no tests to study for and no classes to attend? Worse yet, what would he do if his teachers suddenly decided to kick him out? Alec couldn't bare the idea of facing his parents, even if he'd know where to find them, which he didn't.

Dragging his feet could only slow the process down so far as they didn't live all that far away. Within an hour Alec found himself knocked on their door, feeling odd as he did it. Yet it would feel stranger to just walk in uninvited. Mrs. Grey answered the door.

"You know you can just walk in, right?" she said. "I mean you do live here."

Alec shook his head. "Feels wrong," he said. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry," she smiled at him and turned to allow him past the her, closing the door behind him.

"You hungry?" Mrs. Grey asked. "I was just about to make dinner?"

"Shouldn't we wait for Mr. Carstairs?"

"Jem is gonna be working late tonight," she explained. "He has tests to mark."

"And you don't?" Alec asked.

"I did mine already," she smiled. "The English exams were written earlier this week."

"Oh right," Alec replied, rubbing the back of his neck like he always did when he was embarrassed. "I took that exam."

"And did very well on it if I recall correctly," she smiled.

"Not well enough for any scholarships though," Alec sighed.

"I don't know," she said. "I suppose it would depend on the scholarship."

"My parents always said they had a college fund for me," Alec sighed. "So I never even thought about applying for scholarships, and now I've missed all the deadlines, plus I didn't really focus on getting scholarship level marks."

"It's true, you aren't a straight A student," Mrs. Grey replied. "But you're a very good student. Reliable, responsible."

"Ex-student you mean," Alec sighed. "As of today that's all over." He sighed, letting this fact wash over him again.

"This should be a exciting and hopeful time," Mrs. Grey said. "I hate to hear you sound so defeated."

"Is that how I sound," Alec sighed before walking over to the couch and collapsing into it. There was a moment's silence as Mrs. Grey came over to sit in the chair opposite him.

"Why are you and Mr. Carstairs being so good to me?" Alec asked. "I mean you must have hundreds of students. Why single me out?"

"Jem has always been too kind for his own good," she smiled. "But with you, I think it's more than just that."

"What then?" Alec asked.

"You must know Mr. Herondale from the school?" she continued. Alec nodded. "To Jem he's not Mr. Herondale, but just Will, and once upon a time they were best friends. And I mean the very best of friends. All but inseparable from childhood, even going to college together. But many years ago now they had a falling out. To his day Jem doesn't know why Will pushed him away. Jem won't bring him up, but I know how much he misses his friend, and well… Alec you look just like him."

"So that's it?" Alec stated, without energy. "I'm not homeless cause I look like my gym teacher?" With such a shallow reason as this he was sure he'd be on the streets or on Maia's couch inside a month.

"Maybe a little, but it isn't just that," she added, with a slightly awkward smile. "I mean I think you remind him of Will as well, or at least how Will was when he didn't have his guard up. No one but Jem ever knew that person of Will, so I can't be sure - but if I know my husband at all - that's why."

"Oh," Alec said softly. This reason was a more substantial. Alec felt a bit better. "Well in that case, I'm glad I look like my gym teacher." He laughed lightly. "Cause I honestly don't know where I'd be without you guys."

"Oh, I'm sure you'd have thought of something," she smiled. "You're a resourceful person."

"Yeah right," Alec scoffed. "More like a naive person."

"Why would you say that?" she asked.

"I knew something was up with them," Alec admitted. "They had been acting strange for weeks, and yet I did nothing!"

"You can't have been expected to-" she began, but Alec cut her off.

"Why not?" Alec continued. "Just because I'm a kid. Well, this kid turns eighteen in September, and the world is quickly going to forget that I'm a kid and throw adult life in my face whether I'm ready for it or not. If I'd been an adult for just an hour - or even a day - before everything went to hell, who knows what would have happened! Maybe I'd still have a college fund? Maybe my family would still own their house? Maybe I'd still have a future."

"I'm going to tell you a story," she began in that way parents do when they want to tell you important things and impart their wisdom. "Of an old student of mine. Before he'd finished learning to walk, his parents saw something they shouldn't have, and the whole family wound up in witness protection. Slightly inconvenient, but not all together a bad place for a kid to grow up. That is until he was sixteen. One day he came into my class with this strange look on his face, like he wasn't really there. The next day I heard what had happened. After well over a decade of being safe, his parents were suddenly found dead. It was believed that their new identities were leaked somehow. And unfortunately it was their son, my student, who'd found them." She paused as if letting it sink in.

"What happened to him?" Alec asked, giving her his complete attention.

"I watched for the next two years as he blamed himself for his parents deaths," Mrs. Grey continued. "He spent all his energy trying to think of ways he could have gotten them out safely, had he been there to help them at the time. No matter what everyone said he insisted on blaming himself. He was wrong then, as you are wrong now. There is no point to such thoughts. They only serve to hold you back. You have to forgive yourself Alec. It's the only way to move on."

"What if I'm not ready to move on?" he asked.

"Give yourself a little more time then," she replied. "But remember, moving on is the goal." Alec nodded, unsure how to explain to her that he couldn't imagine a time in which he'd ever be able to move on.

"I think that's quite enough serious talk for one night, don't you" she grinned. "What would you like for dinner?"

"Don't go to any special lengths on my account," Alec replied.

"It's no trouble," she countered. There was a strange learning curve to live with such accommodating people. When Alec had ever requested a specific meal back home he'd usually gotten out voted.

In the end, Alec gave in and let her make him a semi-fancy pasta dish that she termed 'nothing special.' Mr. Carstairs arrived home just as his wife was offering Alec dessert. Conversation easily flowed to exams, and as Alec listened to them talk, for the first time he got an idea of what high school was life for teachers. Sure, most students resented their homework, but at this moment writing one paper was feeling like a lot less work than marking thirty of them.

Alec could only characterize the evening as lovely. Good food, good company, and casual conversation made the time pass quickly.

It wasn't until late that night when he was lying in bed - not sleeping - that his mind returning to it's fretful spiral. What was he going to do tomorrow? The idea of never getting out of bed had a certain appeal to it, but somehow he suspected it wouldn't work out. When this had all started he'd felt driven and strong about getting a job, but now that the moment was actually upon him, Alec was scared. He didn't feel ready to be an adult, all alone in the world but for his own resources. It felt like just yesterday that he'd been protected from harsh realities by his family. Of course, it had actually been last week, not yesterday, but all the same it was too fast.

Eventually he must have fallen asleep, for Alec woke to a rather brighter room than usual. Reaching over to check a phone he no longer had, Alec instead turned to check the clock on the wall. It was past eleven in the morning. Well, his plan of staying in bed all day was off to a good start. It felt strange that no one had woken him, but then again, it wasn't like he had somewhere to be. Alec laid back down, staring up at the ceiling. It was a plain white ceiling, but it lacked the water damage marks of that motel he'd been in before. The room itself consisted of one double bed under the window, a dresser and a closet, which Mrs. Grey had been kind enough to empty for his use. There was a night stand as well, but without a cell phone to charge, Alec found he hadn't much use for it.

He tried to keep his mind blank, but his unwelcome thoughts refused to be silent. So instead, Alec got up and went into the kitchen. He found a note there, sitting on the counter. It read:

"We had to go into work. Just because schools over for you, doesn't mean your teachers don't still have a few things left to accomplish. :)

We will see you tonight. We are bringing pizza home for dinner. Help yourself to anything in the fridge.

Cheers

Tessa and Jem."

Well, it looked like he had the whole place to himself today. Which begged the question, what was it going to do with it?

After making himself a snack, Alec sat down on their couch and began flipping through the channels. He'd gotten through most of a movie he'd rather enjoyed, and started some strange tv show about a 18th century murder when there was a knock on the door. As this wasn't technically his place, Alec didn't feel very comfortable answering it. He'd never been the door answering person before. His parents had always done that. So Alec muted the tv and decided to just wait until they went away. They knocked twice more before ringing the doorbell. Alec watched the clock. After five solid minutes he realized whoever it was, wasn't gonna take no for an answer. Cautiously, Alec got up and moved towards the door. There was a little chain to let the door be opened a few inches to see and talk to someone while not allowing them entry and, nervously, Alec decided to use it.

Sliding the chain into the slot, Alec unlocked the door before turning the handle. He was more than a little surprised by the two faces before him. First of all, how had they known he'd be here of all places? And second, how could he possibly ignore them in person? Not replying to a message given to you by the school receptionist was one thing, but shutting the door in his parents faces was another matter entirely.

"Oh, thank goodness!" his mother gasped.

"What are you doing here?" Alec managed to say.

"Someone at the school said you were staying with the Carstairs," Robert explained.

"Carstairs and Grey," Alec corrected automatically. "She didn't change her name."

"Ah, well yes," Robert replied awkwardly, as if he wasn't quite sure why Alec had bother to correct him. To be fair, Alec wasn't sure either. He'd just said it.

"If you've known where I was all along, why'd it take you a week?" Alec asked, feeling rather unapologetic.

"They told us you were with the teachers, but not their address," Maryse explained.

"How'd you get it then?" Alec asked. He didn't know why he was so fixated on such details, though he supposed it was easier to think of them then the actual topic on everyone's minds.

"May we come in?" Robert asked. They were still talking through the chained door. Alec knew neither Mr. Carstairs or Mrs. Grey would mind if he invited them in, but still it didn't sit right with him. This was someone else's home, and he was a guest in it.

"No," Alec replied.

"Would you come out?" Maryse almost pleaded.

Alec thought about it for a while. He knew he couldn't avoid them forever, but just being near them was ruining his mood. His chest was tight, and he could feel stress clenching his stomach as well. Alec took a deep breath before replying.

"Alright," he said. "Give me a minute." And he closed the door on them before turning around and collecting his wallet. It was only then that he realized he didn't have keys.

"We can't go far," Alec told his parents as he left through the front door, leaving it unlocked. "I don't have keys."

"We can talk on the steps if that makes you more comfortable," his mother suggested. Alec nodded.

"What do you want to talk about?" he asked, wanting to get this over quickly.

"At the time we couldn't face it," Robert began. "But now we feel we owe you and your sister an explanation."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My beta reader got mad at me for this cliffhanger. She demanded spoilers. Editor privilege. hehe. Though you guys do at least get a sneak peek. :)  
> What do you think so far? I'm really curious. This story is very different than anything I've ever written before.  
> \--------------------------------  
> Sneak Peek Chapter Five
> 
> "We tried to keep our problems, our problems rather than bring you kids into everything-"
> 
> "Didn't do a very good job of that did you?" Alec snapped, surprised by his own anger.
> 
> "That's no way to speak to your mother," Robert replied, sharply.
> 
> "What are you going to do about it?" Alec counted. "You can't very well say if you live under my roof you obey my rules. No roof remember?"


	5. Information

"At the time we couldn't face it," Robert began. "But now we feel we owe you and your sister an explanation."

"Have you talked to Izzy already?" Alec asked automatically.

His father nodded. "We talked to her yesterday," Robert explained.

"And what did Izzy have to say about this explanation?" Alec asked dubiously. He couldn't help but keep his guard up emotionally around them after the way everything had fallen apart.

"You can ask her that yourself," Maryse told him.

"We are here to talk to you," Robert explained again.

"Then talk," Alec replied, even though all he wanted was to turn around go back into the house, lock the door, and drown his thoughts in television.

"First of all we know we didn't handle things well," his father began. "And we are sorry about that, but you have to understand that it hasn't been an easy few years for us."

"We tried to keep our problems, our problems rather than bring you kids into everything-"

"Didn't do a very good job of that did you?" Alec snapped, surprised by his own anger.

"That's no way to speak to your mother," Robert replied sharply.

"What are you going to do about it?" Alec counted. "You can't very well say if you live under my roof, you obey my rules. No roof remember?"

"Roof or no, it doesn't change the fact that we are your parents Alec," Robert snapped.

Alec decided he didn't have a reply to this, and chose to remain silent.

"Anyway," Maryse said, putting a hand on her husband's arm. "We didn't come here to quarrel. We just wanted to say-" But then she stopped, seemingly at a loss for words.

"Yes?" Alec asked, getting impatient. He could feel the stress of just being near them, and it was making him cranky.

"Well to start, even when a house is foreclosed on they can't take your possessions in the house," Robert began. "I've sent an appeal for them back as they were unlawfully taken."

"I have a better idea," Alec said bitterly. "Pay your mortgage before the repo men comes to take everything you own."

At this point his mother burst into tears, and Alec's twisted guts turned into guilty guts. He sighed. "Alright, I'll bite. What's been so hard for you these last few years?"

"Max." It was a single word, and though his mother spoke it with great awe, it meant nothing to Alec.

"Who's that?" Alec shrugged.

"Your baby brother," Robert replied. "Or, I suppose he would have been."

"I don't understand," Alec said, his anger fading to be replaced with confusion.

"He was born too early," Maryse managed through her tears. "Tiny little thing, all covered in tubes, but pink you know. Until he grew cold in my arms."

"How come I didn't know any of this?" Alec asked.

"Remember when your mother and I were away last year?" Robert said slowly. Alec nodded. "We didn't actually leave. We were all but living at the hospital."

"It was over so quickly," Maryse spoke softly, as if speaking only to herself. "I hardly knew his smell before he faded away. Too small. Too early."

"We decided as we hadn't yet told either you or Izzy we were expecting, we could spare you from the loss as well," Robert explained. "The plan was that we'd come home, and nothing would have changed."

"Didn't work," Maryse sobbed.

"Alright, so that sucks," Alec admitted. "I still don't understand how it lead to us losing the house?"

"Losing a child is like nothing I've ever known," Robert said slowly. "I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."

"Something inside you breaks," Maryse continued as if they'd done this dance before. "And it's hard to see the world the way it is. Depression I believe is the term for it, but I hardly cared to name it. I was just trying to get through each day. The numb haze only lifted when there was something important on the line."

"She pulled me into it," Robert continued when Maryse started crying again. "Poker - I believe it was - that first night. I saw the light come back into her eyes as she won the jackpot." He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. "When they say it's an addiction, they aren't exaggerating."

"So let me get this straight?" Alec said slowly once he was sure they were both done talking. "You were so upset you lost one kid that you totally forgot about your two living breathing children, and gambled away everything we ever had at a poker table?"

No one disagreed with him. In fact, they both suddenly found interesting things to admire about their shoes.

Alec took a deep breath to calm himself so he could speak without yelling. "I thank you for the explanation," Alec said slowly. "Now please leave."

"Alexander," his mother's voice pleaded, but Alec had already turned to re-enter the house.

He closed the door on their expectant faces before turning to lean his back against it. So now he knew. Alec wasn't sure if he was better off knowing, or just being mad without understanding the reason. Or rather excuse. For it felt more like an excuse than a real reason to him, and Alec didn't have the energy to forgive his parents their disastrous mistakes. At this moment he had precious few feelings towards them at all. He wanted nothing to do with them.

Taking a few calming breaths, Alec went back to his day's plan of binge watching whatever was on his kind host's television. The fictional characters and scenes proved to be a much needed escape, and by the time Mr. Carstairs and Mrs. Grey returned he had all but put his parents visit from his mind. They'd brought pizza and Alec enjoyed the drama free evening with his teachers, which proved to be an even better escape than the television.

Alec went to sleep that night with only one nagging question on his mind: should he ask Izzy what she thought of all this? With school over he wasn't really sure what was going to happen next. It felt as if he were up against some kind of invisible wall, and beyond it, nothing but blackness. He still couldn't picture tomorrow, which made him feel like he was staring down the side of an infinity cliff.

His dreams that night were plagued with strange imagines of faceless brothers and decks of cards. When he woke, Alec decided he needed another day to just not think, and once again devoted his time to the television. Mrs. Grey and Mr. Carstairs both left for work like yesterday, and Alec hid from the world on their couch.

When Alec woke on Saturday however, he sensed somehow that today would be different. Neither of his teachers worked today, and he knew he couldn't hide forever. He tried to just lay in bed, but eventually his boredom won out, and he got up to find Mrs. Grey in the kitchen.

"Good morning," she smiled. "Hungry?"

"Always," Alec replied with a smile back.

"My needy husband has requested pancakes today," she informed him. "How does that sound?"

"Perfect," Alec replied as he sat down. Her kitchen had a great island in the middle with bar stools on the side facing the sink. He knew he could get up and help, but instead he just sat and watched as she made breakfast. This seemed to be her husbands plan as well, though Mr. Carstairs also gave her a kiss before sneaking off to not help cook.

"Don't worry, I'll make him do the dishes," Mrs. Grey informed Alec with a smile.

"Hey, I didn't cook either," Alec reminded her. "Maybe you should make me do the dishes."

"Actually, I was thinking we could do something else today?" she countered. When Alec asked what she added, "Make you a resume."

"Oh right," Alec said, feeling small and unsure again. This was real life calling. Alec had never had a job before. He'd figured that was a problem for after college, and hadn't given it a moments thought. Now of course, it was the only path left to him.

Taking a deep breath, Alec replied that he was up for resume writing today. Mrs. Grey was so kind when she smiled. You could always tell she meant it in every way when she looked at you. Alec knew he was far more than lucky to have such wonderful people take him in.

Writing a resume turned out to be not so bad. It involved just a little more stretching the truth than he'd thought it would, and a lot more thinking about himself that he was truly comfortable with. Alec had never before dedicated so much time to contemplating his greatest strengths. It was a short page, as he had only a high school diploma, but somehow Mrs. Grey had managed to get him looking far more impressive on paper than he felt in real life.

"Can't I just give them a note that says: Alec Lightwood, High School grad seeking employment," Alec asked. "I mean the rest of this is fluff anyway."

"Technically yes," Mrs. Grey agreed. "But in your case the fluff is important."

"How so?"

"It shows that you know how to write a proper resume, and that you put effort into it," she explained.

"Ah, but that isn't true," Alec corrected her. "You know how to write a resume, and you put effort into. I just typed."

"And learned about how to write resumes," she reminded him. "Don't sell yourself short." Alec had to put effort into not rolling his eyes.

"Just have to add your references," she said.

"I don't have any," Alec reminded her. Then he watched as she added both her own and her husbands names.

"Teachers make good references," she explained.

"I thought we couldn't put parents down as references?" he said.

"Teachers, not parents," she reminded him.

"Yeah, but I'm living here like you are," Alec explained.

"Don't say you live with us," she shrugged. "It's all different last names, so the interviewer won't even know Jem and I are married. It's perfect."

"What if they asked where I live?" Alec inquired.

"Say you are living with friends," she answered. "You could even mention your parents troubles. It might help get you sympathy points."

"Urg," Alec groaned.

"But we can go over how to do an interview tomorrow shall we?" she smiled. "I think that's enough for one day. I'll print out a dozen or so for you and I thought, come Monday, you could take them to a few places you'd like to work."

"Right," Alec said slowly. "Yes, that makes sense." It was the next logical step, and he supposed he couldn't hide in front of her tv forever. A job was a doubting prospect though.

She turned to him and gently put a hand on his shoulder. "I know it can feel overwhelming, but just remember, one step at a time."

"One step at a time," Alec echoed, letting out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"Jem should be done marking papers by now," Mrs. Grey said. "Maybe we can persuade him to watch a movie with us?"

As Alec knew from the observations of living with them, Mrs. Grey could persuade her husband to do just about anything when she wanted to. The way those two looked at each other made him feel better about the world. Even if horrible things happened, at least there were people out there that truthly loved and supported each other unconditionally. If his parents were bonded by grief, Mrs. Grey and Mr. Carstairs were bonded by love. Though, in other ways, it was a bittersweet thing to witness. If he thought about it in terms of his own romantic experience Alec seemed very lonely indeed. He tried not to think about how he was the only one in the room who had never been on a first date.

"How did you guys meet?" Alec asked them, trying to make it flow naturally into the conversation once the movie was over.

"What was it?" Mr. Carstairs turned to his wife to inquired. "Ten or twelve years ago?"

"Nine years ago dear," Mrs. Grey giggled at him.

"Oh right," he replied, blushing slightly.

"At least that means I haven't missed our ten year anniversary," he countered.

"Indeed you have not," she smiled back. Then she turned to Alec and continued. "It was quite by accident that we met. Jem and his friend were walking along when they heard me freaking out just around the corner."

"She thought someone was trying to rob her," Mr. Carstairs chuckled.

"But it turned out it was just a rat," she replied. "They took me to a cafe to calm my nerves, and the rest as they say, is history."

"That's a cute story," Alec said, smiling. He couldn't help but wonder what friend of Mr. Carstairs had been there with them that day. He thought maybe it was his look-a-like, Mr. Herondale, but he didn't want to ask given all he knew of that situation.

"So, what's for dinner Tess?" Jem asked his wife.

"Oh, I don't know," she replied. "I think we should order in. What do you think, Alec?"

"I think free lodgers should just be grateful they are getting fed," he laughed. "Anything's good for me."

"Then it's decided," Mrs. Grey stated firmly. She got up to enter the kitchen, but just a moment later she called back to them. "Do you know where those pamphlets for the chinese place on 1st are?"

"The junk drawer in the kitchen," Mr. Carstairs replied.

"If they were in the junk drawer I wouldn't have needed to ask," she called to her husband.

"I love you," Mr. Carstairs stated as way of answer to her question.

"Arg, it's so hard to be mad at you when you answer like that!" she exclaimed before getting out her phone and googling the restaurant.

"Works every time," Mr. Carstairs whispered to Alec once his wife was once again occupied. Alec couldn't help but laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to leave you all in suspense for so long. I did have the beginning of this chapter written almost right away... but the rest took longer. I hope it was worth the wait! If you were Alec would you forgive your parents?  
> \--------------------------------------  
> Sneak peek of chapter 06
> 
> "I put it in your room," she added.
> 
> "Thanks," Alec said, then turned to keep watching his show.
> 
> "Well don't you want to open it?" she asked.
> 
> "Not really," Alec said.
> 
> "No one's perfect Alec," she stated calmly. "No matter what they did they are still your parents."
> 
> "Thanks Mrs. Grey," Alec smiled. "But at the moment they are dead to me."
> 
> "Such a shame," she sighed. "And how many times do I have to ask you to call me Tessa."
> 
> "At least once more," Alec replied with a laugh.


	6. Connections

After almost two weeks of handing out resumes Alec was still unemployed, but he couldn't claim to be too upset about it. There was something healing about sitting on the Carstairs' couch and watching endless hours of television, or so he told himself. Mrs. Grey tried to keep his spirits up by telling him he just had to be patient, that the perfect job for him was out there somewhere.

"People simply don't want to hire without work experience," Alec told her one day. "I've had at least two people tell me exactly that."

"Hmmm," she replied thoughtfully. "Maybe we should take another approach. Sometimes getting a job isn't about what you know, it's about who you know."

Alec didn't really understand what she meant, but had nothing against trying another tactic. He was getting sick of walking about and giving people his narcissistic pieces of please hire me paper anyway.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Mrs. Grey said suddenly. "While you were out today your parents came by."

"What? Why?" Alec asked quickly.

"They just dropped off a box for you," she said.

"Oh," Alec relaxed.

"I put it in your room," she added.

"Thanks," Alec said, then turned to keep watching his show.

"Well, don't you want to open it?" she asked.

"Not really," Alec said.

"No one's perfect Alec," she stated calmly. "No matter what they did, they are still your parents."

"Thanks Mrs. Grey," Alec smiled. "But at the moment they are dead to me."

"Such a shame," she sighed. Then she added with more volume, "And how many times do I have to ask you to call me Tessa?"

"At least once more," Alec replied with a laugh.

It wasn't till hours later that Alec got around to opening his parent's box. At the very top was a letter sealed in an envelope with his name on it. Alec set that aside and went to look through the rest. It was a collection of some of his stuff, including the blanket he'd see taken away the day they'd lost the house. Some of his books were there as well, and his cell phone. Alec rummaged around a little more and found his charger, which he promptly plugged into the wall along with the phone. It would be nice to have a phone again. He took some of the books out of the box and put them on the empty shelf Mrs. Grey had cleared for him to use. It felt good to be at least a little unpacked.

Then Alec turned to the letter.

'Dear Alexander

We hope returning your things is a step towards repairing what was broken between us. The rest of your things have been returned as well. They are in a storage unit along with ours. We didn't know if you wanted them all at once so we just included those things we know are your favourite. If you want anything else, don't hesitate to ask. Our phone numbers are the same as before, and are in your phone. When you are ready to talk please contact us. We will be waiting.

I hope everything's okay and know how very sorry we are.

Love

Mom and Dad'

It was nice to know that the rest of his stuff was his once again. And Alec felt far less cut off from the world with a cell phone to call his own. Leaving it plugged in, Alec checked his messages. He had a bunch, but most were old and no longer relevant. However, he did have one from Izzy that looked like it needed a reply.

'Hey big brother,' Izzy's text read. 'I just got my cell back so I figured maybe you did too. How are things?'

The time stamp said she'd sent it about three hours ago.

'Things are okay,' Alec texted her back. 'I'm living with Mr. Carstairs and his wife. They keep asking me to call them Tessa and Jem, but it's weird. Been looking for a job, but no one is hiring. How are you?'

To his surprise Izzy answered within moments.

'I totally get that,' Izzy texted. 'Calling teachers by their first name is SO weird. I've been looking for a job too. Simon's mom is helping me with my resume.'

'It's hard isn't it,' Alec texted back. 'This whole looking for work thing.'

'I got a few interviews lined up,' Izzy replied. 'I only want a summer or part time since I'm still in high school. Maybe that makes a difference?'

'Maybe,' Alec typed.

'So, did mom and dad tell you why we lost the house?' Izzy texted after a moment.

'They gave me an excuse, yeah,' Alec replied.

'It doesn't really make a lot of sense to me,' Izzy texted back. 'I mean, how do you lose that much money gambling! I don't understand.'

'Oh, I get that part,' Alec texted. 'You cease to care about anything else. What I can't forgive is how they forgot about us to grieve over a child we didn't even know about.'

'Yeah that does suck,' Izzy typed back. 'I guess I'm just trying not to think about it. Gonna focus on this coming school year.'

'Probably a good idea,' Alec replied. 'Keep making healthy choices like that, and I'm sure you'll be okay.'

'Life is how it is,' Izzy texted with a shrugging emoji. 'Just gotta roll with it.'

Alec blinked at his phone screen, and took a full few seconds to realized he'd closed his eyes. He was exhausted.

'Sorry Iz,' Alec managed to type. 'Gotta crash. Night.'

'Night,' Izzy typed back.

With a sigh, Alec laid out on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. His sister was alright, and everything else could wait until tomorrow as far as he was concerned. He was an emotionally drained kinda tired. Within moments, exhaustion swept over him and Alec fell asleep.

He woke feeling like he'd had a strange dream, but remembered none of it. It was nice to have a phone to check in the morning again, even if he had no new messages. After laying in bed far longer than he probably should have, Alec got up and went to feed his needy stomach.

Mrs. Grey was in the kitchen cleaning up like they'd just finished eating. "Did I miss breakfast?" Alec asked.

"You missed lunch," Mrs. Grey chuckled.

"Oh," Alec replied awkwardly.

"If you're hungry, go ahead," she smiled. "Just tidy up after yourself."

"Right," Alec replied.

"Oh, and I think I found you a job!" she exclaimed as Alec moved towards the fridge.

"Come again?" Alec blinked at her.

"An old acquaintance of mine," she elaborated. "She and her husband have a house flipping business and are always looking for people. If you are willing to do some honest hard work I can get you in."

"Physical labour huh?" Alec mused. "Well it's certainly gonna be a change from the couch potato I've become."

"Oh, it isn't that bad," she smiled.

"I've memorized your daytime television schedule."

"Okay, maybe it is that bad," she chuckled. "So you'll take the job then?"

"Yeah," Alec smiled. "I mean it will add to my resume, right? And it's not like anyone else is banging down the door to hire me."

"Perfect," she smiled. "I'll let Charlotte know."

Alec gave her a thumbs up before opening the fridge and deciding what he was gonna eat. He settled for eggs on toast, and went about making them as his mind wondered. Rebuilding houses. It's not something he would have ever imagined himself doing. Then again his current state of affairs wasn't something he'd been able to imagine either.

Alec had just finished eating his breakfast when Mrs. Grey returned to tell him that he could start tomorrow. Alec just nodded. At least he had the rest of today to himself. One thing at a time, right?

But today ended very quickly, and soon enough, tomorrow came around. Waking to the sound of an alarm for a change, Alec dragged himself out of bed far earlier than his new slacker lifestyle was used to and put on work clothes, in this case worn out jeans and an old shirt. He grabbed something to eat before leaving the house, carrying nothing but his cell. He'd saved the address of the house being flipped into the notepad app on his phone. It was conveniently not that far from the Carstairs place. Alec walked for about a half hour before he spotted what could only be construction. There was a huge truck parked outside the house with broken tiles and kitchen cabinets piled in the back. There were also people moving in and out of every door. Mrs. Grey had told him to find Charlotte, but short of standing and calling her name he really didn't have a clue how to go about doing that.

So he kept walking, following the flow of people until he stood in the rather bare kitchen of this very in-progress house.

"You must be Alec."

Relieved, he turned to see a tall, slender man with a shock of untidy ginger hair who looked to be in his mid to late forties.

"And I take it you aren't Charlotte," Alec replied.

"The names Henry," he said with a smile. "Charlotte's my wife."

"Oh good," Alec exclaimed with relief. "Then you probably know what she looks like."

Henry laughed. He had warm hazel eyes and he was wearing jean overalls covered in what looked like paint, dust, and possibly oil.

"That I do," he chuckled. "Follow me."

They left the room that would one day resemble a kitchen once more and down a hall. Exiting the house through a back door, Henry stopped in front of a very slight women, with thick dark brown hair. She was in fact so petite Alec felt like he should hunch so as not to be so much taller than her.

"I found your assistant," Henry told his wife. "Courtesy of Tessa."

"Oh yes, perfect!" Charlotte exclaimed as she turned around to face him. She too looked about Henry's age, or maybe a little younger.

"How can I help?" Alec asked, only slightly nervous.

"I believe they are digging a fountain around the corner," Charlotte answered. "And the cabinet needs to be brought in, or you could help me with the flowerbeds."

"Ummm…." Alec mumbled, his indecisive nature at a loss for where to start.

"Why don't you help me then," Charlotte smiled at him after a moment. Then she looked up and added to her husband. "Henry dear, will you go check on the cabinets please?"

"Right away," Henry replied before giving her a peck on the cheek and dashing off.

Though it was just one interaction, Alec got a sense that that Henry would do anything his wife asked of him. If she wanted him to fly her to the moon, Alec felt sure Henry would do all in his power to get her there.

"Just plant them like this, see," Charlotte said, pointing to where Alec was supposed to place the plant. "And you have to mess the roots up a little so they regrow outwards rather than following the circle of the old pot."

"Right," Alec stated, doing as she asked.

"Tessa's told me how you came to live with her," Charlotte said after a few moments. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay," Alec smiled.

"That's good," she smiled.

"I'm curious," Alec tried to start a conversation. "How do you know Mrs. Grey?"

Charlotte stared at him for a moment then she exclaimed, "Oh, you mean Tessa? Sorry, I never hear her called that."

"It's what her students call her," Alec explained.

"Ah yes, fair enough," Charlotte smiled. "Just so long as you don't start calling me Mrs. Branwell we'll be fine." Alec laughed. "Let's see… I've actually known Jem longer. We went to school together, but I got to know Tessa over the years she's been married to Jem. In fact, it was through Jem that I met Henry."

"Really?" Alec asked.

"Yep, though the meeting of it is hardly the best part of our story," Charlotte continued. Alec could hear the smile in her voice even as his eyes were fixed on the plants. "For such smart people we sure were both idiots. I thought he didn't like me, and he thought I didn't like him. Took us well over a year to sort it all out." She laughed, standing up to wipe the dirt from her hands before reaching to grab another tray of pots for planting.

"Sounds like quite the mix up," Alec replied. He could tell she'd told this story many times before in that way couples who had been together a long time did.

"And now, here we are," Charlotte sighed. "Twenty years, three daughters, and one family business later."

"So your kids flip houses too?" Alec inquired.

"Two of them help out," Charlotte answered. "But my eldest decided she wanted other things from life, and moved away after high school. She's in law school."

Charlotte stood up, dusting off her hands once more, but this time she looked as though she was happy with the results. "There," she stated. "I think that's done. Do you want to help with the fountain while I go help Henry?"

With a nod Alec agreed, and headed in the direction she indicated. Turning the corner he saw four young adults all gathered around what looked to be the beginnings of a fountain. Two were women, and looked very much like Charlotte with her same slight frame, but there was something of Henry is their red brown hair. The other two were guys, one tall with black hair and Asian features, while the other had dirty blonde hair and a more bulky build.

"Umm hi," Alec said with an awkward wave. "Charlotte sent me to help you."

"Perfect," one of the two women said. "I'm so tired." And she promptly sat down on the grass.

"Pfft," the other woman replied. "You have to actually do work to be tired."

"I've done work!" the sister exclaimed, for Alec was sure now that these were Charlotte and Henry's two homebound daughters.

"You so haven't!" said the other sister. "And I'm telling mom."

"Oh, no you don't!" And suddenly the one sister had run off after the other, leaving the three guys standing there.

"I didn't catch your name," the blonde bulky guy asked.

"Alec," Alec said, feeling very much out of place.

"I'm Noah, this is Magnus, and those two are Abigail and Emma respectively," Noah said with a smile. "It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Alec smiled back. "I hear we are suppose to be building a fountain."

"Indeed," the one that had been introduced as Magnus said. "And without those two we might actually get something done."

"If they didn't look so much like their mother, I'd swear they were adopted," Noah chuckled. "Charlotte is all work, while Abby and Emma are so not."

"Being a teenager is hard," Magnus observed. Alec turned as he spoke. Magnus had a slim build compared to Noah, but Alec could tell there were some real muscles concealed in his slim figure. Unlike Noah, Magnus didn't look that at home in jean overalls covered in dirt. Alec had a sneaky suspicion Magnus preferred to be rather more put together.

"Don't sound so much like an old man," Noah laughed. "You can't be much older than me."

"I am older than I look," Magnus replied, before picking up his shovel and handing one to Alec.

"Thanks," Alec smiled at the apparently older man.

"Let's build a fountain," Magnus stated. "Before the 'helpful' sisters return." Alec laughed at his use of air quotes in particular before following Magnus's lead as they got back to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a review and tell me what you think! This story hits way closer to home with me than any other story I've ever written and I really want to know what people think of it.
> 
> Also so sorry for the super slow updates. I've been working crazy overtime these days. We are talking like 6 days of work, one day off then 6 more days at work. Doesn't leave a lot of time for writing. The next chapter is actually totally finished though so when this chapter has been up for a little while I'll just update the next one. :) But after that I'll have to write more. ^_^  
> \------------------------------------------------------  
> Sneak Peek Chapter 07
> 
> With his phone working, Alec had gotten back in touch with Jace and Maia as well. Jace seemed super into the whole working thing, and asked if Alec could get him a position on Charlotte's crew as well.
> 
> "Don't you have college plans?" Alec asked.
> 
> "Gran can't afford to send me," Jace explained. "Besides, you're staying in town, so why would I go?"
> 
> Alec couldn't help but smile. No matter what else happened in life, it was good to have friends.
> 
> Maia had very unsurprisingly taken Jordan back, and the two of them had once again become that annoyingly adorable couple everyone loves to envy.
> 
> "Jordan's coming with me!" Maia exclaimed. "We start classes this September."
> 
> "That's wonderful, Maia," Alec beamed at her, and indeed he was happy for her, even if it sucked to have his best friend so far away.


	7. Thoughts

Life was starting to make sense again. Alec was quite enjoying his new job and had even made friends there. Abby and Emma had proven to be rather good company when the other wasn't around, and Noah seemed like a solid guy, though very straight. Alec couldn't quite get a read on Magnus yet, but overall things were looking up.

With his phone working, Alec had gotten back in touch with Jace and Maia as well. Jace seemed super into the whole working thing, and asked if Alec could get him a position on Charlotte's crew as well.

"Don't you have college plans?" Alec asked.

"Gran can't afford to send me," Jace explained. "Besides, you're staying in town, so why would I go?"

Alec couldn't help but smile. No matter what else happened in life, it was good to have friends.

Maia had very unsurprisingly taken Jordan back, and the two of them had once again become that annoyingly adorable couple everyone loves to envy.

"Jordan's coming with me!" Maia exclaimed. "We start classes this September."

"That's wonderful, Maia," Alec beamed at her, and indeed he was happy for her, even if it sucked to have his best friend so far away.

"We will skype all the time," Maia told him. "And there's always texting."

"You better come visit on school vacations," Alec told her.

"Yes sir," Maia teased him.

"Oh, come here you!" Alec said as he pulled her into a bear hug.

"Air," Maia gasped. "Can't breath."

"Oh sorry," Alec chuckled as he let her go. "I'm really going to miss you."

"Well you have me for two whole months yet," Maia smiled. "Oh, have you heard from Izzy?"

"Not since yesterday," Alec replied. "Why?"

"She got a job," Maia explained. "At a clothing store. It's part time, but it's something for her to do over the summer and possibly continue during her senior year."

"I feel old," Alec whined. "What does one do after high school?"

"Get a life usually," Maia told him. "Or obsess over how high school is over and fail to move on."

"Oh yeah, no pressure then," Alec huffed.

"None whatsoever," Maia grinned. "I mean, it's your life right? So you get to decide what becomes of it."

"My parents decided what became of it," Alec grumbled. "Or rather what didn't."

"You can only blame your parents for your problems for so long Alec," Maia told him wisely. "At some point they just become your problems."

"Stop making sense," Alec told her.

"Never," Maia giggled. "I make dollars."

"That is just the worst pun ever," Alec whined. "And it isn't even true cause you don't have a job."

"I have an allowance," Maia stated. "Which equals dollars in the plural."

"So, two dollars then?" Alec mocked her.

"Shut up!" Maia replied, hitting him playfully on the arm.

"What am I going to do without you?" Alec sighed, beaming at her even as she was pretending to hurt him.

"Be miserable and alone?" Maia giggled.

"If Jordan ever does anything he shouldn't, I will fly up there to kick the crap out of him, understand?" Alec said.

"Pfft," Maia scoffed. "If Jordan ever does anything he shouldn't, I'd kick the crap out of him before you got the chance."

"I don't doubt it," Alec laughed. They'd reached the turn off, and with a sigh he bid her goodbye and headed towards work.

"See you later?" Alec said by way of a farewell.

"Always," Maia replied, skipping off likely to meet up with Jordan.

Alec walked the last little ways to what had quickly become his favourite place to be. Working on the house with Charlotte and Henry, Alec felt useful and needed, which was a good feeling. Upon his arrival, Alec saw Jace and Henry trying, and very nearly failing, to carry in a long piece of countertop, and at once rushed to help.

"Thanks," Henry said with a sigh as Alec took up a third of the counters weight.

"Why were you trying to carry that on your own?" Alec asked.

"What am I?" Jace scoffed. "Chopped liver?"

"This is clearly a three person job," Alec said by way of explanation.

"We are behind schedule," Henry explained. "And I just hate to tell Charlotte."

"And telling her you broke the new countertop trying to catch up is better?" Alec asked smiling. This confirmed what he already suspected of Henry. It was sweet really, though not in a terribly productive way.

"You make a fine point," Henry said, then turned and continued his work rather than the conversation.

"He's a funny guy," Jace chuckled when Henry was out of earshot. "A real stand up honest guy, couldn't hurt a fly, but funny, yah know?"

"Let's get this counter secured," Alec got them back on task while trying to hold back a smile.

The three of them worked on the kitchen all morning, and by the time Charlotte arrived with Abby and Emma, it was looking like they were far less behind than they actually were. Henry was clearly very pleased, and after a lunch break everyone got to work painting the cabinets.

Alec left work that day feeling very tired, but very happy. It was a good kind of tired. If the last few months had taught him anything, it was that there are many different types of tired.

And so the days blurred together as he worked, spent time with his friends, and generally tried his best to be okay. Grouting tile, painting walls, and pulling weeds gave Alec a much needed sense of control. Maybe Maia was right. Maybe he did get a say in how things went from here out. Then again, the power to control one's own destiny was in itself a rather daunting prospect. Of course that begs the question, is it better to be in charge of one's own destiny, or to take a step back and just be? Then again, maybe he was overthinking this. For what in life could an individual really control anyway? No one got a say in when or where they are born, who their parents are, or what quality of life they grow up with. The world just pulls you along a path until one day the path ends, and you're suppose to just know how to build your own without guidance or warning. Childhood and teenage life has such structure to it. From kindergarten to graduation there was an order to life. Sure there aren't a lot of options, but there is something to be said for that. With less options comes less opportunities to make mistakes. The end of high school meant the end of that structure, an end of coasting through life. Now there were so many - almost too many - options laid out before him, and to top it all off, consequences of choosing the wrong path are so much greater now than they had ever been before.

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

Alec blinked at the tiles he was grouting. He'd been so deep in his thoughts he hadn't realized anyone else was in the room. Turning around, Alec saw a tall man with Asian features and tanned skin staring back at him. Magnus was his name.

"Just life," Alec shrugged.

"Ah, I see," Magnus smiled. "Let me save you some trouble. The answer is 42."

"Huh?" Alec smiled.

"The answer to life, the universe, and everything is 42," Magnus explained.

"How do you know that?" Alec asked, totally lost.

"The real question is how did Douglas Adams know that," Magnus replied.

"That, in no way explained anything," Alec stated.

"Read 'A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', and all will become clear," Magnus chuckled.

"O-kay," Alec said slowly.

"Charlotte asked me to collect you for her," Magnus explained.

"Oh thanks," Alec replied, but Magnus didn't leave.

"I heard what happened with your parents," Magnus said after a moment.

Alec groaned. "You and everyone else in the world it seems," he sighed.

"Sorry," Magnus replied. "I didn't mean to drag up unwanted topics. I just thought… nevermind."

"Oh, just say it," Alec sighed. "If you don't I'll wonder what you were gonna say, and the chances are, my imagination will come up with something far worse than whatever you were actually gonna say."

"Well, I was just wondering if I could help," Magnus added. "I know what it's like to overthink stuff, and I know how it can mess with your head."

"Thanks," Alec smiled. He paused, considering if he should explain or not. Alec had seen quite a lot of Magnus over the last while, though only really in passing while at work, and never alone like this. Unlike everyone else on this crew, Alec really had no idea where Magnus stood on just about anything. The man was a walking enigma.

"It was just that I had the future figured out," Alec began. "I could picture it. And now that it's gone, I feel like the ground beneath me has fallen away."

"The future isn't gone," Magnus told him. "It's just changed. Life is change."

"I suppose," Alec sighed. "Still, it seems very much like staring the unknown in the face."

"Maybe don't think so far ahead," Magnus replied. "Focus on now, and the future should tend to itself."

"Thanks," Alec smiled. "I'll try."

"The future is coming one way or another," Magnus added. "There is nothing on this earth that can stop time, and all we can do is decide how that time gets spent."

"You must be old indeed," Alec laughed. "To be so wise."

"I just said that to shut Noah up," Magnus laughed. "He thinks he's such a hot shot just cause he's a quarterback."

"Oh, so he hadn't graduated then?" Alec inquired.

"Nope," Magnus replied. "That idiot still has one more year to go."

"Same as my sister," Alec explained. "She's starting her last year this September."

"Younger sister, I take it?" Magnus inquired. Alec nodded, not quite sure how Magnus knew this, but decided not to ask.

"I'll be eighteen in September," Alec said.

"So young," Magnus laughed, laying a hand dramatically over his forehead.

"Oh, come on," Alec chuckled. "You can't be that old."

"I'll have you know that I am almost twenty-six," Magnus stated proudly.

"Still not that old," Alec told him.

"Older than you, though," Magnus smirked.

"Does that mean your birthday is coming up?"

"Sort of," Magnus replied. "It means I tend to round up my age. My birthday is in December."

"Pfft," Alec scoffed. "You still have five months left."

"But I am more twenty-six, than twenty-five," Magnus counted.

"Twenty-five and a half, more like," Alec laughed.

"Don't you go telling everyone how old I am!" Magnus said, suddenly serious. "It's a well kept secret around these parts."

"Your secret is safe with me," Alec laughed.

Magnus smiled at him, and for a moment, Alec had the strangest feeling in his stomach, like his insides were trying to flip over. A moment later the feeling was gone, and Charlotte was calling both their names.

Hurrying to answer, Alec moved quickly through the halls to find Charlotte rolling white primer onto the kitchen walls.

"Oh good, there you two are," Charlotte said with a sigh as she put her work down and turned to face them.

"How can we help?" Alec asked.

"You can take this," Charlotte said, pulling something from her pocket and handing one to each of them. Alec looked over the plain white envelope. His name was written on it in small neat writing.

"What's this?" Alec asked.

"It's called a paycheck," Charlotte explained with a smile.

"Oh," Alec mumbled. He'd all but forgotten that it had been a little over two weeks since he'd started helping out here. The work had been so liberating he'd all but forgotten he was getting paid for it.

"Don't look so disappointed," Charlotte chuckled.

"Sorry," Alec mumbled, his hand suddenly rubbing the back of his neck like he always did when he was nervous. "I'm not disappointed, just surprised."

"First paycheck," Charlotte smiled at him. "I promise they get less surprising with time."

"Welcome to adulthood," Magnus told Alec. "It gets an infusion of energy once every two weeks, and the rest of the time you run of fumes."

"When you put it like that, I think I'll return to childhood," Alec replied. "It was a lot easier." Everyone laughed and Alec was relieved for the day, but he'd be back here again bright and early tomorrow morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is like the fastest I've updated this story before! #ProudOfSelf :D I hope you like it. Please leave me a review and tell me what you liked or didn't.  
> \-------------------------------------------  
> Sneak Peek Chapter 8
> 
> "Thanks, Mrs. Grey," Alec grinned.
> 
> "Will you pretty please call me Tessa," she sighed. "I'm not at work, you are no longer my student and Mrs. Grey is so formal."
> 
> "Tessa," Alec said with a little flinch. "Still weird."
> 
> "Well suck it up buttercup," Mrs. Grey snapped. "From now on every time you don't call me Tessa no dessert for you!"
> 
> Alec loved her cooking and took this as seriously as it had been intended. "Okay Tess-a," Alec said more slowly trying to get better at it.
> 
> "Good," Tessa stated. Alec decided calling her Tessa in his head would help him say it out loud.
> 
> "Did you ever call your teachers by their first name?" Alec asked her.
> 
> "No," Tessa replied. "But I never lived with any of them either."
> 
> "Fair point," Alec chuckled.


	8. Summer

The summer passed in a haze of sweat, laughter and sore muscles, and before Alec knew it he was facing his first ever September without school. It was a very strange concept to him at the moment, but one he knew he'd have to come to grips with eventually. The reality of the situation was that his days of being a full time student were over.

With his birthday fast approaching, Alec thought it would be nice to invite all his new work friends, all his old school friends, and his sister out to dinner.

"That's a wonderful idea," Mrs. Grey said when Alec told her his idea.

"Thanks, Mrs. Grey," Alec grinned.

"Will you pretty please call me Tessa?" she sighed. "I'm not at work, you are no longer my student, Mrs. Grey is so formal."

"Tessa," Alec said with a little flinch. "Still weird."

"Well, suck it up buttercup," Mrs. Grey snapped. "From now on every time you don't call me Tessa, no dessert for you!"

Alec loved her cooking, and took this as seriously as it had been intended. "Okay Tess-a," Alec said more slowly, trying to get better at it.

"Good," Tessa stated. Alec decided calling her Tessa in his head would help him say it out loud.

"Did you ever call your teachers by their first name?" Alec asked her.

"No," Tessa replied. "But I never lived with any of them either."

"Fair point," Alec chuckled.

"So, are you going to invite your parents to this dinner?" Tessa asked.

"Not even a little," Alec replied easily.

"But, you invited Charlotte and Henry," Tessa reminded him.

"I see them everyday at work," Alec said. "It's Maia's last weekend before she leaves. I don't want to think about everything that happened with mom and dad, just a nice relaxing time."

"I'm sure they know it's your birthday," Tessa smiled. "You could at least call them."

"I'll text them," Alec said. "If it makes you happy."

"Thank you," Tessa smiled. "It would, yes. Or at least it would make me feel less guilty."

"Why guilty?" Alec asked confused.

"It feels like I've stolen you away from your family," Tessa sighed.

With a smile, Alec got up and went over to hug her. He whispered in her ear, "Nah, you've just been added to it." She hugged him back so tight Alec felt like it was exactly what she'd wanted to hear.

Just then, Mr. Carstairs arrived home. It was late in the evening now, and though Tessa was home from the school, her husband had stayed late to supervise detention.

"Hello all," he said as he entered.

"How were those misbehaving students of yours tonight?" Tessa asked him as she welcomed him with a kiss.

"Don't you mean ours?" he chuckled. "Or am I wrong in thinking you assigned one of those detentions?"

"Just eat your dinner," Tessa laughed. "It's in the oven."

As he watched the older married couple interact in that casual way people who have been together a long time do, Alec smiled. It was a lovely world he lived in, despite all that had been taken away from him. Alec felt more than lucky to be living here with them. He sensed somehow the correctness of the moment. Safe with these people was right where he was suppose to be.

Thankfully he managed to call her Tessa all evening, which meant he got dessert! Even if he sometimes still called her husband, Mr. Carstairs. Tessa decided it was progress enough, and gave him a slice of the short cake with whipped cream and strawberries that she'd made.

"So good!" Alec praised her food, but she always shrugged it off and said it would be better if she'd done something differently. It was just her way. Not even Jem could convince her, though Alec sensed that Tessa loved it when he tried.

After dinner, Tessa nagged him to send out those text invites to his birthday dinner which turned out to be an excellent idea as Alec began getting replies back very quickly. By the time he went to bed almost everyone had answered and Alec was really happy with how many of those answers 'yes I'll be there's'. Alec was smiling as he lay in bed that night. His eighteenth birthday was feeling more and more like a planned event to look forward to than it ever had before.

The next morning Alec got up and ready to leave. Since they'd finished work on the house down the street, Alec had been getting rides to work with Mr. Carstairs, but as this new house was in the opposite direction of the school, Alec felt bad for being such a nuisance.

"It's really no trouble," Mr. Carstairs would say every time Alec brought it up. "And please call me Jem."

"J-em," Alec replied. "Still feels strange."

He laughed. "Just wait till you're my age, and everyone is calling you Mr. Lightwood. Now that will feel strange."

"Something to look forward to, I guess," Alec chuckled.

As the car stopped, Alec opened the door and got out, thanking Jem for the ride as he did so. Alec turned and walked towards the house. Unlike the last reno, this house didn't need as much work. It was more cosmetic than the structural repairs they were doing. Charlotte said it was the only way she'd take on two houses in one summer.

Alec found Charlotte, and got his marching orders for the day. Collecting the paint tray and brushes, Alec made his way to the living room and began his task. He was working alone for a while, then Abby joined him, complaining only a little about how much her mom makes her help out around here.

"She wants you to learn," Alec reminded his friend. "It's a good thing."

"Still," Abby whined. "I wish I'd been smart like my sister and went off to school."

"Why didn't you then?" Alec asked.

"Didn't know what I wanted to do," Abby shrugged.

"Didn't realize that was a pre-rec for university," Alec replied thoughtfully. "I guess I wasn't quite ready for it either then."

"I mean, sure you can go with an undeclared major for a while," Abby continued. "I guess I just didn't see the point in starting without an end in mind."

"You are wise beyond your years," Alec chuckled.

She laughed. "Tell that to my mom," she said smiling.

"She raised you," Alec replied. "I'm sure she knows."

"Ha!" Abby snorted. "Unlikely."

"What did I miss?" a new voice joined the conversation. Alec turned to see Magnus entering the room. He was once again dressed for work, wearing overalls with paint on them.

"Alec called me wise," Abby summed up. "Did you finish the bathroom already?"

"That I did," Magnus pointed to all the light pink paint on his clothes and arms. Then he turned his head to look at Alec before adding with a laugh, "Don't put ideas in that girls head. We don't need to go inflating her ego."

"Oh, shut up," Abby laughed, flicking her paintbrush at him and getting the light blue paint all over his face.

Magnus grinned, turning to her with glee as he lifted his brush. Alec flung his hands up over his head, fearing paint getting into his eyes. When he dared open them again, both Abby and Magnus were covered in paint, and laughing so hard they could barely stand. Alec felt like he'd missed something.

"We should probably put the paint on the walls," Alec stated lamely. "Before Charlotte catches us not working."

"Mom needs to learn how to chill," Abby replied, but she did turn back around to start work again.

"You were a teacher's pet in school, weren't you?" Magnus asked Alec directly, though not in a way that made it seem like he wanted an answer. In fact, his stare made Alec a little nervous.

"We are here to work," Alec mumbled awkwardly.

There was silence for a moment while they gazed at each other. Then Magnus stated, "that we are." And to Alec's relief, everyone got back to painting.

There was some light conversation while they painted. Alec listened more than talked. He liked getting to know these two people without having to ask questions. It was nice to just put paint on the walls, and listen to how much Abby disliked being the middle child, how Magnus loathed wearing overalls and many more. They were also both complaining about the paint in their hair, which made Alec smile. The paint was entirely of their own doing. He'd warned them!

"You've been awfully quiet," Abby directed her statement to Alec for the first time in well over an hour.

"I like listening to you guys," Alec replied with a shrug.

"That's called eavesdropping," Abby reminded him.

"Don't talk so loud then," Alec laughed.

"Cheeky this one, isn't he?" Magnus added, gesturing in Alec's direction.

"How shall we punish him?" Abby asked. Alec took a step back. He felt sure there would be paint flung at him any minute, and he was preparing to run. Too late! Splat! Alec wiped the paint from his face, being careful to not get any in his eyes.

"Real mature guys," Alec grumbled. He could hear them giggling.

"Much better," Magnus chuckled. "Now we all match."

"Yes, now our slacking off and wasting paint is all the move obvious," Alec sighed.

"Happy to be a bad influence," Magnus replied with a wink.

"High schools over," Alec reminded them. "Aren't we supposed to be grown ups now?"

"What is a grown up anyway?" Magnus replied with a sigh.

"Mom," Abby laughed.

"Darn right." They all turned to see Charlotte enter the room. "As I can tell, none of you are actually getting any paint on the walls, I have another job for you."

"They started it!" Alec exclaimed.

"That, I do believe," Charlotte chuckled. "Now, our delivery truck has been delayed, and I need someone to take my car and go pick up the tiles. Any volunteers? Alec?"

"I'd love to help," Alec mumbled. "But I can't really drive so…"

"I'll do it!" Abby volunteered, moving forward to take the keys from her mother. With a sigh Charlotte gave in.

"Any excuse to drive my car, huh?" Charlotte sighed.

"You know it," Abby grinned, twirling the keys in her hand.

"There better not be a scratch on that car by the time you get back!" Charlotte called after her. Abby just waved her hand dismissively without turning to look back.

"Don't raise teenagers," Charlotte stated.

"So, don't have kids?" Magnus chuckled.

"No, kids are great," Charlotte replied seriously. "Just make sure to sell them to the gypsies somewhere around age fourteen."

"I'll try and remember that," Magnus laughed. With a roll of her eyes, Charlotte turned and left without giving them different instructions. Alec decided this meant he should still be painting. He turned back to the wall, and tried to remember where he left off. This was often the problem with doing a second coat of paint, figuring out what you've already painted. Alec felt sure there were places on his wall that accidently had three coats.

"So, why don't you drive?" Magnus asked. With the absence of Abby he'd started actually working as well.

Alec shrugged. "No one taught me. I got my learner's license a while back but then life kinda fell apart."

"That's fair," Magnus replied. "I guess I've had a driver's license so long, I can't imagine life without it."

"I've been getting rides to work with Jem," Alec sighed. "But this house is so far away from his job. I feel bad about it."

"From what I know of those two, I'm sure he doesn't mind," Magnus replied.

"But I mind!" Alec exclaimed. "They are being way too good to me, and I don't know why."

"Sometimes people are just nice people," Magnus stated.

"I don't know," Alec said wearily. "I keep waiting for… I don't know what. Something to burst the bubble, I guess."

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I could pick you up on the days we work together," Magnus smiled. "Carpool if you will."

"That would be super awesome," Alec grinned. "Thanks."

"If you want, I could even teach you a little," Magnus offered.

"You need a full license to teach an L," Alec said. "And you have to be at least twenty-five." Magnus stopped painting and turned to face Alec with his eyebrows raised. Alec blinked twice, before adding. "Which it seems you are."

"Darn right," Magnus stated.

"Well then, thanks," Alec smiled back. "That would be really nice of you."

"No problem," Magnus smiled. "I've taken a lot of my friends driving. Comes with being old." He laughed.

"You don't look old," Alec said, feeling only slightly awkward. He wasn't sure why Magnus always made him feel so awkward.

"Why, thank you," Magnus smiled with a slight bow.

"You're welcome, I guess," Alec replied awkwardly.

"Keep making that face and I might feel the need to fling more paint at you," Magnus chuckled. Alec made an effort to smooth out his features, and was surprised when this made Magnus laugh even more. He decided it was best to get back to painting.

"You're adorable," Magnus told him. "You know that right?"

Alec just shook his head, eyes on his work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... there's no sneak peek cause I suck at writing fast these days... sorry. I kinda know what's going to happen I just haven't got any structured scenes written. :) Please review and tell me what you think!


	9. Birthday

Alec woke up the morning he turned eighteen feeling rather the same as he had at seventeen. Still he smiled up at the ceiling. September the second all day today. His day. His birthday. Alec was determined to enjoy this day, despite the mess that was his life at the moment. You only turned eighteen once, right? With this in mind he went downstairs to find Tessa in the kitchen cooking. Alec almost purred with happiness as he smelt the bacon and pancakes she was making.

"God that smells good," Alec groaned as he moved closer. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until now.

"Everyone should get breakfast pancakes on their birthday," Tessa said with a smile as she prepared him a plate.

Alec accepted the food happily and dug in, feeling like a spoiled child and not even caring.

"Have you texted your parents?" Tessa asked, setting a plate of food down in front of him.

"No," Alec admitted. She gave him a look, and Alec felt the need to defend himself. "Hey, it's my birthday. Shouldn't they text me happy birthday, rather than the other way around?"

"Generally yes, though in this case, I believe they are worried you don't want to hear from them," Tessa explained.

"Yeah okay," Alec sighed, hoping she'd change the topic. After all, he had all day to text his parents.

"Any big birthday plans before tonight?" Tessa asked him.

"Eating your delicious food," Alec replied, before scarfing more food down his throat.

"Okay yes, but that won't take all day," Tessa chuckled at him.

Alec shrugged. "I don't know," he said.

"Well what would you like to do?" she asked. "It is, after all, your birthday."

And Alec really thought about it for a while. Magnus hadn't been at the renovation work sites for a while, and Alec found he almost missed the odd, yet charming guy. Alec had never before had friends like those he'd gained through his job, and he found he rather loved it. Abby in particular Alec had bonded with. She was at the work sites almost every day, usually complaining about her mom making her help, or laughing with her sisters. Outside of work, Alec had spent the summer trying and failing to get time with Maia. She and Jordan were back in that honeymoon phase of theirs, and spending every waking second together. Alec was however touched that they'd put off their travel till first thing tomorrow morning so they could come to his birthday dinner tonight. He was pretty used to this kinda thing from Maia. She was his best friend, and he missed her, but he had to admit if he had what she had with Jordan he'd probably ditch his friends a little too. It was normal, even if it sucked.

In answer to Tessa's question, Alec shrugged.

"What detailed thoughts you have," Tessa teased.

"Would it be totally wrong to sit alone and play video games all day?" Alec laughed.

"Not if that is what you want," Tessa replied with a smile.

"I bet if I dedicated the whole day to it, I can get well passed that stupid boss level I've been stuck on!" Alec exclaimed as he finished her delicious breakfast. Tessa chuckled, reaching to clear away his plate.

Hours later, Alec could be found sitting in his room, controller in hand, mashing buttons like his life depended on it. His gaming console had been one of the first things he'd bought with his own money, after first attempting to pay Jem and Tessa rent. Both his former teachers had flat out refused to accept his money, and had told him to buy something for himself. Thus the gaming console had entered his life.

Though, Alec was trying to save most of his money, there was something very fulfilling about buying things he wanted with money he'd earned himself.

"If you don't get ready soon you are going to be late to your own birthday dinner," Tessa's voice called to him from down the hall.

Alec startled, and checked the time; it had quite gotten away from him. Quickly saving his game, Alec jumped up and went to change out of the his pajamas. There were definitely worse ways to spend a birthday than on a couch in the clothes you'd slept in while marathoning video games, Alec thought to himself as he changed into jeans and a nice shirt, or at least a clean one.

"That was quick," Tessa observed as he reappeared in the hall ready to go.

"I don't wanna be late!" Alec exclaimed.

"I think as the guest of honour the party doesn't start till you arrive," Tessa replied seriously.

"Still don't wanna be late," Alec countered.

"Good thing you went from couch potato to presentable in under ten minutes then," Tessa chuckled at him as she collected her keys off the coffee table.

Alec followed Tessa outside and got into the back of the car, thinking the whole time about what dinner tonight might be like. He'd never had a birthday with so many people at it before. All throughout high school, Alec had only ever had Jace and Maia, but tonight he'd invited so many people. The introvert in him was a little nervous.

Tessa parked, then turned to look at Alec in the passenger side. "Do you know when you'll want a ride home?" she asked. "Or should I wait for your text?"

"I might be able to get someone at dinner to take me home," Alec said. "If not, I'll message you."

"Alright," Tessa smiled. "Have fun."

"Thanks," Alec replied. He had invited both Jem and Tessa to his dinner, but they'd said they didn't want to intrude. Alec got out of the car and walked into the restaurant. After giving his name, the host lead Alec to their reserved table in a back room. There he saw that Maia and Jordan were already seated.

"You're late," Maia told him, standing up with her hands on her hips.

"I've been told that as it's my birthday, the party starts when I walk in," Alec chuckled.

"Same old Alec," Maia laughed as she ran forward to hug him.

"Man! I'm gonna miss you SO much this school year!" she exclaimed, squeezing him so tightly Alec wasn't sure if he would ever be able to breath again.

"Air-" Alec gasp. Maia laughed, but let up.

"I got you a present!" Maia exclaimed as Alec caught his breath.

"Let the man sit down," Jordan laughed, moving forward to contain his girlfriend. There was a familiar nature to the way Jordan and Maia touched each other, and it often gave Alec a strange feeling. Like he'd like to be the one comfortable enough with another person to be able to casually touch them like that. He'd witnessed this in his friends before, but had never once associated it with his own life so the idle thought rather confused him.

"Who else are we expecting?" Jordan asked as they all sat down.

"Most everyone from work," Alec replied. "And Jace." After a moment he added, "And Charlotte said she was bringing a friend."

"Well, aren't you Mr. Popular now," Maia teased him. "Do you remember the years when your birthday meant just you and me watching movies for two days straight?"

Alec couldn't help but grin. "Hell yeah I do," he smiled. "Those were epic."

"Okay, present now," Maia grinned, thrusting a small brightly coloured box into his hand.

Alec opened it, and pulled back the paper to reveal a elegant picture frame decorated entirely in references to his and Maia's friendship. A piece of the sweater they'd made together in eighth grade textiles class had been glued to the top left corner. Alec recognized the fabric after spending so many hours staring at it. The bottom was covered in the little clear pebbles they used to spend their lunches and recesses collecting together among the boring rocks around the playground of their elementary school. Along one side, Maia had glued both halves of the first friendship bracelets they'd bought. The silver metal was all but worn down to brass now, but you could still see the little purple heart at the end of the old chain. She'd glued them together as one solid heart, even through Alec knew it was made of two bracelets.

And to top it all off was the photo. Held within the picture frame was the first and most recent photo Maia and Alec had taken together. Their first photo Alec had all but forgotten about, as it was a section cut out of their first grade class photos, but the recent one had been just a few weeks ago. He remembered all too well the day Maia had insisted on photographing their spontaneous walk through the park for no apparent reason.

"You had an ulterior motive," Alec laughed as he thought about how odd she'd been acting that day.

"Caught me," Maia laughed. "You like it?"

"Like it," Alec stated, a little stunned. He looked up to beam at her. "I Love it, and you." Placing the glorious gift on the table, Alec leaned forward to pull her into a hug.

Their moment was interrupted by a new arrival. Charlotte and Henry were here along with their daughters. Alec couldn't see either Emma and Abby, but he knew they'd gotten a ride with their parents as he heard their familiar voices permeated the room. Alec didn't see Ms. Fairchild right away, but as the others spread out he noticed his art teacher sit down beside his boss. Alec figured she must be the friend Charlotte was bringing. He wished now more than ever that Jem and Tessa weren't so silly about being an imposition. There were after all other adults here, even other teachers. They would have fit in fine. Though he knew if Tessa had caught him saying that, she would have reminded Alec that he too was an adult, even if he didn't feel like one.

"I hope you enjoyed your day off," his boss said, smiling at Alec as she took off her coat.

"I did," Alec laughed. "Played video games." Charlotte laughed.

"Leaving us to do all the work," Emma began.

"Can't wait till my birthday, means I get the day off!" Abby added.

It was only then that Alec noticed a new face in the group. He hadn't noticed before that there was another girl standing behind Ms. Fairchild. Alec could only guess that this was her and Mr. Valentine's daughter that he'd heard so much about, but had never met. Alec couldn't quite remember the girls name, but he felt sure he'd heard it before.

"This everyone?" Henry asked once all the new arrivals were seated around the table.

"Nope," Alec smiled, feeling popular indeed. "Still waiting on Magnus, Jace and my tardy sister."

While they waited, everyone took out their menu. Alec split his focus between watching the door for his late guests, and admiring his present. It made him smile every time he looked at it or even thought of it. Alec was so touched that she'd kept all those momentos for so many years, let alone took the time to put it all together. Alec didn't need to worry about reading the menus. He knew what he wanted, as he always ordered the same thing at this restaurant. By the time the other's arrived there was a general consensus around the table as to what everyone wanted to eat. Magnus and Jace walked in within minutes of each other. Last to show up was Izzy with Simon in tow. Alec assumed it had been Simon who'd driven her here.

There were now so many people at the table Alec couldn't even talk to the ones at the end. It was a strangely wonderful thing however to know that enough people would show up to his birthday dinner as to make conversation tricky. Alec smiled at the thought.

"What you grinning about?" Jace asked as he walked passed Alec to sit in one of the few chairs left vacant.

"I have friends," Alec grinned.

"Well duh," Jace replied rolling his eyes. "The surprising thing here is that I don't have a girlfriend." He paused to indicate himself before adding. "I mean, I'm hot right?"

Alec chuckled, but kindly assured his friend of his attractiveness.

"I'd rate you a five at best," Magnus's voice carried over to them. Alec turned to see Magnus sitting down across from him on the left. "Maybe a six, if I was drunk."

"Oh pfft," Jace scoffed. "What do you know!?"

"Quite a lot actually," Magnus smirked. Alec didn't quite understand what he meant by this, and decided it would be embarrassing to ask.

Conversation broke out in full force after that. Maia who was sitting on Alec's right, began asking Magnus what Alec was like at work. Alec could sense more than hear the discussion at the other end of the table. For a moment Alec just basked, rather than participated.

By the time the waitress came to take their orders, Jace had started talking to Ms. Fairchild's daughter, who Alec still couldn't remember the name of, and Emma and Abby were trying to get the use of the car out of their mother for tomorrow. It seemed there was some big event they wanted to attend. Magnus was still engaged in conversation with Maia, only now Jordan had jumped in as well. Izzy was talking to Ms. Fairchild about - as far as Alec could tell - classes starting again. Simon was rather quiet, but very present. Alec suspected for his sister's sake. He couldn't help but be glad of Simon's presence in Izzy's life. He seemed a stabilizing force, which he knew was good for Isabelle.

"You've been awfully quiet tonight," Magnus spoke directly to him for the first time since they'd sat down.

"Everyone's busy talking to each other," Alec smiled.

"And you're okay with that?" Magnus asked.

"Well they are all here for me aren't they?" Alec replied. "Isn't that enough?"

Magnus seemed to ponder that for a moment, his head tilting slightly to one side as if in thought.

"That's a very content way to look at the world," Magnus observed.

"Er... thanks?" Alec replied, unsure what to say.

"You're welcome," Magnus smiled, and Alec felt his stomach do that odd flipping thing again. Maybe his dinner wasn't agreeing with him, though this seemed unlikely since he'd order the deep dip many times before.

"Did you see Jace?" Maia sniggered, capturing Alec's attention by elbowing him in the ribs. "He's still talking to the red haired girl. I don't even know who she is."

"That's Clary," Magnus stated. "Her parents both teach at your old high school, but she went to a different one."

"Can't blame her there," Maia stated. "I'd hate to go to school where my parents worked."

"Did she go to your high school?" Alec asked Magnus, thinking that was were Magnus knew her from.

"No actually," Magnus replied. "I went to the same one as you. Just graduated long before you." He winked.

"Oh right," Alec said, feeling like he'd asked a silly question.

"Are you gonna talk to your parents today?" Maia asked the question Alec had been trying not to think about all evening.

"I promised Tessa I'd message them," Alec sighed.

"Tessa?" Maia asked.

"Mrs. Grey," Alec chuckled. "Nothing like living with teachers to start calling them by their first name."

"I guess you have a point there," Maia laughed. Then she sobered. "Doesn't have to be a long message. Just something."

With a sigh, Alec took out his phone and began typing. It was a short text, without much substance, but still has finger hovered over the send button. Did he really want to talk to his parents?

"I remember Tessa," Magnus's voice made Alec look up. "In my experience, she is usually quite wise about these things."

With a deep breath Alec hit send, then put his phone on silent and back in his pocket. He didn't want to have to deal with any replies tonight.

"There," Alec stated. "I kept my promise, and now I don't have to think about it anymore."

Most everyone had finished eating by now, and some were even looking at dessert menus.

"I wish I didn't have to do this," Maia sighed. "But we have to get going. We are leaving for school first thing tomorrow morning."

"Thanks so much for coming tonight," Alec smiled genuinely at her. "And for my present! You better keep in touch girl!"

"I promise," Maia smiled, pulling him into a hug. As they broke apart, Alec felt his eyes tearing up and could see the glossy liquid reflected in hers as well.

"I'm gonna miss you so much," Alec whispered in his best friends ear.

"Back at you," she snapped back with a grin.

"You take good care of her or else," Alec tried to threaten Jordan.

"Or else your girlfriend will beat you up, while her best friend cheers her on," Maia chuckled, addressing Jordan.

"Yeah that," Alec laughed with them.

As she turned to leave, Maia stopped to fix her gaze on Magnus. Then she spoke with purpose. "You keep an eye on him for me," Maia instructed Magnus.

"Eye eye captain," Magnus laughed, but Alec had a weird feeling about the whole interaction. Like he was out of the loop about something.

With another hug and a wave, Alec watched his best friend walk out of his daily life for the foreseeable future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To everyone who is going to tell me Alec's birthday is on September 12... in this it's the second. Deal lol. Maia had to leave for school after his birthday and I don't know of any colleges that start school after the 12th of September.
> 
> \-------------------------------------------------
> 
> Sneak Peek Chapter 10
> 
> "Didn't even say goodbye," Alec laughed. "Wow, Jace must of really hit it off with Clary."
> 
> "Indeed," Magnus replied. "I hardly saw him talk to anyone else all night."
> 
> They were alone now, the last of Alec's guests - apart from Magnus - having left moments ago.
> 
> "Oh and Jace is so not a five by the way," Alec chuckled. "Not that I'd expect a guy to really notice that."
> 
> "Are you calling me straight?" Magnus scoffed.


	10. Magnet

Magnus watched as the happy expression on Alexander's face faded with the loss of his friend. In so many ways, Alec was easy to read - like a book with lots of pictures - but in so many other ways Magnus had absolutely no idea what the beautiful man was thinking. This was quite new for him. Usually Magnus found people easy to figure out. Most of them wanted sex in his experience, or money, or some variation or combination of those things. Some people might call his view on people jaded, but Magnus liked to think of it more as realistic. As far as Magnus could tell however, Alec wanted nothing of the sort. Alec was just Alec, genuine and kind. Alec didn't fit into Magnus's way of looking at the world, and he found that fascinating.

"You're really gonna miss her aren't you?" Magnus observed.

"She's been a part of my life for as long as I can remember," Alec stated, by way of reply. Then he returned to his seat at the table and his other guests, a smile fixed to this face. Magnus couldn't help but think that his smile was more for the others around him than what he was actually feeling.

Magnus had done nothing this evening, but make a study of Alexander. He'd spent half the night in conversation with Alec's best friend, and the other half watching Alec's face to try and learn the workings of the thoughts behind the expressions. He wasn't sure how long this interest would hold, but at the moment he was quite content to simply observe the blue eyed man.

Magnus watched as Alec smiled, and talked politely with his guests. He watched as those guests began paying their bills and collecting their coats. Alec hugged most of them as a way of saying goodbye, always with a smile on his face. Even sad as he was now, the joy this boy radiated was almost infectious. He was like the sun, or some kind of angel.

What surprised Magnus most was that Alec's smile persisted past the last guest walking out the door.

"Didn't even say goodbye," Alec laughed. "Wow, Jace must of really hit it off with Clary."

"Indeed," Magnus replied. "I hardly saw him talk to anyone else all night."

"Oh, and Jace is so not a five by the way," Alec chuckled. "Not that I'd expect a guy to really notice that."

"Are you calling me straight?" Magnus scoffed. He tried to tease, but the idea of Alec's thinking this didn't sit well with him. Magnus was no stranger to these feelings. He knew he was attracted to Alec, and yet he'd been attracted to people before without feeling the need to study them so thoroughly.

"Are you telling me, you aren't?" Alec replied. "Cause most people are."

"I am not most people," Magnus stated easily.

"Oh," Alec said, and once again Magnus was drawing a blank. No matter how he tried to figure the other man out, the inside of Alexander's mind remained a mystery to him. He had no idea what Alec thought of this new information, though still, the strangest part of all this was how badly Magnus wanted to know what Alec was thinking.

"Did you still want those driving lessons?" Magnus asked, giving up understanding the inner workings of Alec's mind for now in favour of securing more time with him instead.

"Oh yeah, that would be great!" Alec exclaimed, clearly delighted.

"When did you want to start?" Magnus asked.

"Whenever you want!" Alec replied. "I'm just really grateful you'd be willing to put up with teaching me."

"I quite enjoy your company actually," Magnus responded, feeling like he'd said a lot more than he'd intended to.

Alec grinned, clearly happy to hear such. Magnus sensed Alec did not understand the depth of meaning he'd accidentally conveyed, which he supposed was a good thing. It made Magnus feel less vulnerable somehow.

"But haven't Tessa and Jem offered to teach you to drive?" Magnus asked when Alec didn't speak.

"They already do so much for me!" Alec exclaimed. "And ask nothing in return. I'd rather walk to work than burden them further."

"That's silly," Magnus laughed, once again taken aback by Alec's reply. This man was different than anyone Magnus had ever met.

"Then I'm silly," Alec chuckled.

"It would seem so," Magnus agreed.

"Is there something wrong with silly?" Alec asked.

"Not necessarily," Magnus remarked calmly.

"Well, I like silly," Alec grinned. "If you ask me, life's too short to be serious all the time."

"What a positive and healthy way to look at the world," Magnus commented. "You'll have to teach that to me one day."

"Deal!" Alec laughed. "Driving lessons for-" but then he seemed to get suck on naming exactly what he was to teach Magnus.

"Positivity lessons," Magnus chuckled.

"Yeah sure," Alec smiled. It was quite remarkable how much this man smiled, especially given all he'd lost. Magnus found his own face so rarely pulled into that expression.

"Speaking of driving," Magnus continued. "How are you getting home tonight? Is someone picking you up?"

"I could call them," Alec said. "But it's late, and I wouldn't want to wake them."

"If I know Tessa she isn't sleeping," Magnus smiled. "I bet she's staying up in case you need a ride."

"What really?" Alec asked, clearly upset by this news. "But I never asked or expected her to do that?"

"Won't matter," Magnus replied easily. "It's just who she is."

"Do you know-" Alec began, awkwardly. "I mean she seems so motherly and yet-"

"Why don't Tessa and Jem have kids, you mean?" Magnus translated Alec's scattered words. Alec nodded. "Honestly I have asked myself the very same question, and have yet to come up with an answer."

"How do you know them again?" Alec inquired.

"I was once their student," Magnus explained. "A long long time ago."

"Not that long ago," Alec scoffed. "I mean, you aren't forty or anything."

"Meh," Magnus shrugged. "It feels like a long time to me."

"Fair enough," Alec smiled. "I mean time is relative after all." There was a moment's pause, then Alec seemed to suddenly remember that someone might be inconvenienced by his lack of action. "I should definitely call now so Tessa doesn't waste her whole night waiting on me."

"I could give you a ride home if you'd like," Magnus offered.

"Really?" Alec exclaimed looking thrilled. "That would be great." He paused only a second for Magnus to nod before continuing on as if nervous. "I had planned on asking Charlotte, but she left with Emma and Abby, and I wasn't sure if there'd be room in the car, plus I still had other guests here so..."

"It's all good," Magnus replied easily. "I'm happy to drive you."

"Thanks," Alec smiled, as he collected his coat from a rack behind them. "That's so nice of you."

"I have been known to be nice," Magnus replied easily. "On occasion."

"You're plenty nice," Alec replied grinning. "When you aren't flinging paint at me, that is."

And just like that Magnus was laughing. It was quite remarkable. They walked out of the restaurant in silence, and once again, Magnus found himself incredibly curious to know what Alec was thinking, but the ebony haired man didn't speak. He just was.

Magnus got behind the wheel and made a mental effort to focus. He knew where Tessa and Jem's place was, and had already mapped the way in his mind as he was pulling out of the parking lot. Magnus never forgot a place, or how to get there. He only had to travel somewhere once for that path to be permanently etched in his mind.

"Best birthday I've ever had," Alec finally spoke about five blocks down the road.

"I'm glad to hear it," Magnus replied easily. "Though, slightly disappointed at your parents for making all your previous ones so shitty."

"It wasn't their fault I sucked at making friends," Alec answered. "I had lots of birthdays that were just me and Maia."

"Ah, but one person who cares is worth as much, or more than an infinite amount who don't," Magnus stated easily.

"True," Alec agreed. "Though it was nice to have more people to invite, and to have those people show up!"

"I can imagine," Magnus responded as he checked over his shoulder to see if it was safe to turn left. Driving down an empty road once more, Magnus added, "I'm glad you had a good birthday."

"Thanks," Alec said, and Magnus could almost hear the smile in his voice even without turning his eyes from the road.

Moments later, Magnus was pulling into Tessa's driveway. He put the car in park, and turned to face Alec.

It was the strangest sensation. Magnus instantly had to hold his muscles rigidly still in order to stop them from moving. Suddenly Alec was like a magnet. Every fibre of Magnus's being wanted to reach out to the other man and do… something. He wasn't even sure, and he hardly cared. The pull was strong, and it was all he could do to hold himself still.

"Thanks for the ride," Alec said, innocently unaware of the effect he'd created.

"You're welcome," Magnus replied, all the muscles in his arms and legs uncomfortably tight.

"Umm okay, I'll text you about getting together for driving then?" Alec asked. Magnus nodded, hoping Alec would get out of the car soon before Magnus did something stupid.

Alec reached for the handle. The door opened, then closed, and Magnus relaxed. He let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. What the heck was that? Shaking his head vigorously in the hopes of clearing it, Magnus took the car out of park and headed home.

Maybe he was just horny, Magnus thought as he went home. Maybe he needed to call up an old friend and get himself sorted out. He didn't need to get all pulled in by an extremely innocent eighteen year old who had no idea how hot he was! Those crystal blue eyes and such dark hair, paired with that perfect pale skin. Alec was a walking fantasy. Even the innocent thing was working for Magnus at the moment. He could imagine teaching Alexander all sorts of things; being the beautiful man's first everything sent shivers down Magnus's spine.

Parking his car at a strange angle and not even caring a little, Magnus walked up his driveway and into his apartment where he collapsed face first into the couch.

"Tough dinner, huh?"

Magnus just groaned. It was his roommates voice.

"How hungover are you gonna be tomorrow?" the voice continued. "Do you need me to pick up your car?"

"I'm sober," Magnus replied, his voice only slightly muffled by the pillow.

"Then I'm confused."

With a great sigh, Magnus rolled over to see the face of yet another angel, though thankfully not one he was remotely interested in.

"I've got the hots for someone who is way out of my league," Magnus explained. "Who I am too old for, and who I would probably corrupt and be a horrible influence on."

"I see," Raphael replied slowly. "Well, I can't say I'd be any good at helping with that, but good luck man."

"Thanks," Magnus said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Raphael was younger than Magnus by about five years, but still looked like a teenager. He had curly hair that was dark, though not as dark as Alec's. His skin was honey coloured due to his mexican heritage. Though raised in Canada, Raphael often swore in Spanish. If he'd wanted girls, boys or anything in the middle, Raphael could have had them. Even if he was only 5'5, Raphael was built in the shoulders and definitely a catch. But Raphael wasn't interested in love or even sex. It had been a great source of shame for him most of his life, and had been a major factor in how Magnus had met his now best friend.

"Sometimes I think you're the lucky one," Magnus told his friend absently. "Sex and love make life too damn complicated."

"On that point we can agree," Raphael laughed. Magnus listened as his friend's footsteps moved away. He didn't move, but instead gazed up at the ceiling, trying not to think about how amazing it would feel to have someone else's hands touching him right now.

And before he knew it his mind was on Alec again. Alec here with him. Alec touching him. Magnus groaned, touching himself tonight just wasn't gonna cut it.

Getting off the couch and reaching for his phone, Magnus scrolled through his contact list, trying to figure out who to call. He didn't have the energy to meet someone new tonight, to break the ice and try and be charming. That left someone he'd already been with. Exes. So many exes. Too many. But the question was, who would come over and help him out?

His high school girlfriend would never in a million years return his call, let alone show up to his place and have casual sex with him. Maybe didn't even really consider Camille.

The series of flings that followed her wouldn't do either. Kitty, Richard and Axel he'd left without a second thought, and Magnus didn't want to reopen those wounds.

Magnus knew Etta was married now, though only through her social media. The women posted literally everything about her life, including her breakfast!

Imasu was halfway around the world by now, studying his first and only love: music.

Magnus knew who he was gonna call. Had always known, even if he wasn't totally happy about it. There really was no one else.

Though many people had entered his life over the years, almost just as many had left it. No family, so few friends, lovers who leave. It was a sad story, but the only one he had. A lonely story, filled with moments that didn't last.

As Magnus dialed the phone he heard Raphael call from the other room. "If you are having him over here I'm going out."

"No it's fine. I'll go out," Magnus called back, trying to be nice. Just because he was having a shitty evening doesn't mean his roommate had to as well.

"Why, hello there," Woosley Scott's voice could be heard over his phone.

"You busy tonight?" Magnus asked his longtime kinda friend with occasional benefits.

"Depends on what you had in mind," Woosley chuckled.

Magnus easily communicated his intentions, and as he'd hoped, Woolsey's reply was simply, "My place or yours?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First Magnus point of view chapter in this whole story! What did you think?  
> \---------------------  
> Sneak Peek Chapter 11
> 
> "So that's the break," Magnus said far more patiently than Alec deserved.
> 
> "Right," Alec muttered, fumbling with his hands when he should have been moving his feet.
> 
> "Nothing to be nervous about," Magnus replied. Then he laughed and added, "At least you got the brake confused for the gas instead of the gas confused for the brake."
> 
> Now Alec was picturing totally Magnus's car and Tessa's house at the same time, by doing just that and sending them soaring through the garage wall.
> 
> "Sorry," Magnus's voice continued.
> 
> "You aren't the problem," Alec whined. "I suck."


	11. Driving

Alec had texted Magnus a few times since his birthday, but the only reply he'd gotten back had been to confirm the time of his first driving lesson. Alec figured Magnus was very busy, and was therefore doubly grateful that he'd be willing to take time out of his day to help Alec learn to drive.

The whole concept of being in control of a vehicle going fast enough to kill a person was a rather daunting one, and Alec had to admit, the idea of getting his driver's license felt more like a fantasy than a goal. Like winning the lottery or something. Rationally he knew this was wrong, but emotionally it felt impossible.

Focusing on the gargantuan feet was at least helping Alec not to think about how long it would be till he got to hang out with his best friend again. Even his other friends were MIA as Jace had started spending his every waking moment with that girl he'd met at Alec's birthday dinner.

Alec wasn't really talking to his parents, though they'd sent him back a very needy 'wonderful to hear from you text' after his birthday courtesy message. Alec really had no idea what was going on with them, and he didn't want to know. He suspected that Izzy knew more, and probably spoke to them fairly regularly, but he hadn't asked her about their parents and she'd never brought bring it up.

Alec didn't want to think about his parents and their being the reason his life was the way it was. He preferred to think about the future. It was starting to feel like a tangible thing once more instead of the empty void it had once been, and Alec wanted to enjoy that feeling instead of dealing with his parents. They felt like going backwards somehow, and that didn't sit well with him.

Forward was better. Forward was driving. Forward was making sure you used the right pettle when trying to actually more forward.

"So that's the brake," Magnus said, far more patiently than Alec deserved.

"Right," Alec muttered, fumbling with his hands when he should have been moving his feet.

"Nothing to be nervous about," Magnus replied. Then he laughed and added, "At least you got the brake confused for the gas, instead of the gas confused for the brake."

Now Alec was picturing totaling Magnus's car, and Tessa's house at the same time by doing just that and sending them soaring through the garage wall.

"Sorry," Magnus's voice continued.

"You aren't the problem," Alec whined. "I suck."

"No you don't," Magnus stated as if he knew such things, which of course he didn't because he had probably picked up driving like a fish to water.

"We are thirty seconds into our first lesson, and already you'd made a joke about me driving through walls," Alec stated. "I'm sticking to my original statement. I suck."

"Oh boy," Magnus sighed. "You are gonna be one of those students aren't you?"

"Sorry," Alec said, leaning his head down and resting it on the steering wheel in defeat.

"Okay, how about this," Magnus began. "Let's switch spots and you can watch me drive for a bit."

"How will that help?" Alec asked.

"Well, usually as a passenger you're looking out the window, or thinking about your day, or generally not focusing on the driver actually driving, right?" Alec nodded. "So this time look at everything I do really carefully, and try and remember it, okay?"

"Okay," Alec said, relieved that for the moment he wouldn't be in charge of directing any fast moving objects.

After switching seats, and watching Magnus adjust the seat as he was a little taller than Alec, they were off. Alec tried his best to do as he was bid, and stared determinedly at Magnus's hands as he controlled the car with confidence. Turn look, shoulder check, signal, go, over and over again. But that wasn't quite right. Magnus did those things in a certain order every time. Alec watched, trying to memorize the movements.

"Okay your turn," Magnus said once he'd parked on the side of an empty residency road and got out.

Now Alec was once again in the driver's seat. It was so odd to be on the left side. It felt like there was altogether too much car on the right side of him and none on the left.

"Now foot on the brake," Magnus explained. "Change gears, and look to see if the coast is clear for you to pull out onto the road."

"Brake, gear, look, move," Alec repeated to himself as he made the motions without doing the tasks.

"Okay yes, but this time you have to actually drive," Magnus prompted gently.

"Right," Alec said, taking a deep breath before taking action.

"Okay good," Magnus prompted. "Now out onto the road. Keep to your side, but whoa not too close to your side. There are parked cars. Better. Okay, now try going more than 30 km an hour. This isn't a school zone."

"Right," Alec said awkwardly as he pressed on the gas a little, and looked at the dash speed meter to watch and see when he got to 50 km an hour.

"Don't look at your dash too much or you may miss something on the road," Magnus explained. "Better to be going 5km over or under than to miss a car pulling out in front of you."

"Sorry," Alec mumbled as he moved his eyes back up to the road.

"No worries," Magnus replied. "Easy mistake to make." He paused then added, "Now without looking down, how fast do you think you are going?"

"Fifty?" Alec asked hopefully, his eyes on the road.

"More like forty-five," Magnus chuckled. "It's okay. At this speed you are definitely gonna create some road rage, but at least you won't get a ticket for going too slow."

"You can get a ticket for going too slow!?" Alec asked incredulously.

"You bet you can," Magnus chuckled. "It just like never happens."

"Sounds like my life," Alec laughed. "If it doesn't happen to anyone else, then it happens to me."

"Less talking, more driving," Magnus prompted.

They reached a turn, and Magnus requested that Alec go right. It was a relief to not be asked where he was suppose to go, as well as how to drive correctly. One thing at a time. There was plenty of time for directions once Alec knew how not to hit things.

"Very good," Magnus said as Alec straightened out the car again. "Just know that you don't have to slow down quite that much to make a right turn without a stop sign on an empty road like this."

"Okay," Alec said, trying to sound confident.

"In fact, you don't have to slow down much at all under those circumstances," Magnus added. "Sometimes it's safer to go faster rather than slower."

"That doesn't make any sense," Alec replied.

"Think about it," Magnus continued. "If you slow down and the car behind you doesn't know why, or you've slowed down too fast, they might bang into you."

"Oh right," Alec said again. "Yeah that makes sense."

"Only thing you can do to prevent this is leave a bigger following distance," Magnus explained. It had been a while since Alec had taken his L test, and he found himself asking what exactly a following distance was. "The space between the front of your car and the back of the car ahead of you."

Things continued like this for a while. Alec tried to absorb the information given to him as well as trying to maneuver the car. It was mentally exhausting, but in a good way. When Magnus finally said they'd had enough for one day, he began to direct Alec back home.

Alec put his foot on the break, gradually slid the gear into park, and sighed with relief. He hadn't broken anything!

"That was really good Alec," Magnus told him, smiling.

"Thanks," Alec grinned up at the taller man sitting beside him. Magnus had very interesting eyes, sorta a mix of green and hazel that Alexander never failed to admire.

"A couple more lessons like this, and you should be ready to start driving Mr. Carstairs to work," Magnus said smiling back.

"Oh no," Alec replied with a shake of his head. "Definitely gonna be more than a couple lessons."

"You really aren't as bad as you think," Magnus informed him. "Once you got over those early nerves you figured it out quite well. You have great spatial coordination." Alec couldn't help but laugh at that, remembering all those times he was picked last in high school gym class.

"When can we do this again?" Alec asked.

"Whenever you want," Magnus smiled.

"How about tomorrow?" Alec said eagerly.

"Sure," Magnus replied.

"And what about booking my N test?" Alec asked. "Do I do that now, or are the wait times short?"

"Best to book that now," Magnus replied. "You will probably be waiting months either way."

"Okay," Alec said. "Makes sense."

It was an odd moment. Alec wasn't quite sure what to make of it. It was that strange feeling he'd had before, like a pull of some kind, but Alec had never felt like this before and he had no idea what to do about it. Some part of him wanted to move closer to Magnus, but he couldn't get a read on Magnus at all. Even though Magnus had admitted to not being straight the other day, he hadn't really explained anything. Alec still didn't know what Magnus was thinking. His current strategy was to ignore the disconcerting tight feeling in his stomach and just be grateful for the driving lessons.

"Great," Alec smiled. "Umm, I suppose I should get out of the car now, huh?"

"If you'd like," Magnus replied easily.

Again it was odd. Alec didn't want to get out of the car, but through the power of social awkwardness he did just that.

Now home and alone in the house until school got out and his teacher guardians joined him, Alec had nothing to distract him from missing Maia. Deciding to be pathetic and text her, Alec sent a greeting but didn't get an answer. He wasn't surprised. It was the middle of the afternoon during the week, and she was probably in class. He hoped she was having a great time learning new things. Alec didn't even bother reaching out to Jace. His idiot friend had become so obsessed with the red head, Alec suspected he might see Maia again before he caught sight of Jace. The thought made him laugh.

But then it made him think. Alec had no idea what it felt like to be so infatuated with another person like that. The concept was foreign to him. Sure, he knew he was gay, but that didn't mean he knew what it was like to really care romantically about someone. It seemed like Jace was having fun, but he was also always late to work and being a shitty friend, so maybe this love stuff wasn't all there was to life. Then again, Tessa and Jem seemed so happy.

With a sigh, Alec decided he needed to think less and opted to play video games until his teachers arrived home and made dinner. This being fed dinner thing was starting to go to his head. Sure his parents had sometimes made dinner, but a lot of the time they'd gotten him to cook - since Izzy always refused - or ordered in. Tessa and Jem however disliked ordering in, and always included Alec in their dinner plans. He was getting so used to it, that the very few nights when he did have to fend for himself were highly disconcerting.

He'd beaten two levels of his game by the time Tessa called him to dinner. He told them about his driving lesson, and in exchange they shared the gossip of his old school. Izzy was back in classes again and in fact one of Tessa's grade twelve English classes. Though he was in fairly regular texting communication with his sister, Alec was glad to hear from Tessa that Izzy seemed to be doing well.

As Alec lay in bed that night, he had a smile on his face. Today had been a great day. Tomorrow he would go to work and see all his friends, then get to drive with Magnus again. Tomorrow would be a great day too.

The smile on his face only faded, as sleep overcame him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sneak Peek Chapter 12
> 
> A few turns and traffic signals later, Alec was parked in Tessa's driveway. But like always, Alec didn't want to get out of the car. Today though as it might be their last driving lessons, Alec felt an extra push to do something.
> 
> "I just wanted to say thanks again," Alec offered, turning to face Magnus in the passenger seat with the car in park. "I know you didn't have to give up so much of your time to teach me and I really appreciate it."
> 
> "You're welcome," Magnus replied.
> 
> It was now that Alec felt like he should get out of the car, but he didn't want to. Magnus's body language was so stiff and despite the social awkwardness they always experienced at this moment, Alec didn't move. Or maybe it was just that it was very cold outside but warm in the car?
> 
> "You're a really great friend," Alec said with a smile, thinking he'd said something nice, but to his great surprise this produced a rather dramatic change.


	12. Sparks

The weather was getting cold with the arrival of October, and driving was getting less and less fun, but still Alec was practicing. He really wanted to be able to do this. He wanted to be more independent of Jem and Tessa, and of course, he wanted the added bonus of spending time with Magnus. Alec was getting very good at ignoring the tense tummy feelings as he got to know the interesting person volunteering his time to teach Alec to drive. Alec found more and more that he looked forward to learning about Magnus. And during their lessons he'd actually learned quite a bit. Alec knew that Magnus had a roommate that he'd known since high school, named Raphael. Magnus never talked about family, and as far as Alec could tell, Raphael was the only constant in Magnus's life at the moment. Though Magnus seemed to brush this off as unimportant Alec often wondered if under all that confidence and humour Magnus was just lonely. Then again, what did Alec know? He was probably reading the whole situation totally wrong.

And he was also driving. Best not to think about other things while driving.

"I know the roads are icy," Magnus said. "But please don't drive my car into a pole."

"Sorry," Alec said, ashamed of his wandering mind as he steered them back on track.

"Distracted driving is up there with drunk and sleep deprived driving," Magnus replied. "Focus."

"Right, sorry," Alec said again, taking a deep breath and clearing his mind.

"Don't be sorry," Magnus replied calmly. "Be smart." Alec just nodded, focusing on the road ahead where there was a little white malibu about to turn left, but no other hazards in the way.

Alec was starting to trust his instinct more about driving after almost two months of lessons, and his test was finally approaching. Tomorrow Alec would either have a driver's license, or waste thirty-five dollars.

"Because smart people pass their driver's test the first time!" Alec said, trying to instill confidence in himself.

"Because smart people don't drive into things, and then get stuck paying for the repairs," Magnus chuckled.

"Oh yeah," Alec replied, slightly embarrassed. "That too."

"Okay, let's go home," Magnus decided. "I think that's enough driving for one day."

A few turns and traffic signals later, Alec turned into Tessa's driveway. He put the car into park and turned off the engine, but like always, Alec didn't want to open the door and walk away. Today though, as it might be their last driving lesson, Alec felt an extra push to do something.

"I just wanted to say thanks again," Alec offered, turning to face Magnus in the passenger seat, and handing him back his keys. "I know you didn't have to give up so much of your time to teach me, and I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome," Magnus replied.

It was now that Alec knew he should get out of the car, but he didn't want to. Magnus's body language was so stiff, and despite the social awkwardness they always experienced at this moment, Alec didn't move. Or maybe it was just that it was cold outside but warm in the car?

"You're a really great friend," Alec said with a smile, thinking he'd said something nice, but to his great surprise this produced a rather dramatic change.

"Oh good gods, Alexander!" Magnus exclaimed, his whole body breaking out of his stiffness as his arms went up in the air and his voice got louder. "After all this time! All these charged goodbyes and you want to be friends? You've half driven me mad and now it's just, shrug, good friend?!" He paused for breath while Alec hardly felt like he was breathing at all. "I don't want to be your friend!"

Alec felt the pain of that statement. It stung and he knew somehow that he'd failed. "What? Why?" Alec sputtered, his heart sinking and he wished he was anywhere but here. "What's so horrible about being my friend?"

It all happened so fast. One moment Alec was sitting perfectly still, feeling more rejected than he ever had in his whole life, and the next, Magnus's soft voice filled the space around him. There was no longer a shred of anger or frustration in his tone. On the contrary, his voice was smooth like velvet.

"Because friends don't get to do this," Magnus words were perfectly clear, even if Alec had no idea what they meant. Do what?

Then Magnus was closer, so much closer than ever before, and Alec felt soft warm lips touch his own. For a moment he marvelled. He felt a shiver over his skin, and his whole body melted into puddy as his mind went very blank. Magnus was kissing him. There was no room in his brain for any other reality.

It was like something had cracked or shattered. Before this moment there had been something almost physical between them, a barrier of sorts that was now gone. It felt like surrender and it felt good. Alec couldn't even form a thought as Magnus's mouth sucked on his lip, pulling it in between his teeth for just a moment. That strange feeling in Alec's stomach was dancing like never before. Magnus's hand was resting on his leg, and it was as if the skin there tingled. But he didn't know what to do with his own hands. Nerves suddenly took hold as Alec worried about his hands ruining everything. Then Magnus's hands moved from his leg to hold his waist and Alec melted again, forgetting entirely about his own hands as Magnus's mouth opened, intensifying the kiss.

When they finally broke apart there was a moment when the only thing Alec could see was Magnus's stunning eyes. He had no concept of how much time had actually passed, though he suspected it had been mere seconds it had felt like an age.

"Definitely not something I do with my friends," Alec stated blankly. His brain seemed to be out to lunch, making him feel slow and dim.

"Glad to hear it," Magnus grinned. It was strange how different he suddenly seemed. On these driving lessons, Magnus was usually so focused, so interested in the driving, but right now he looked relaxed and he was even smiling. But that couldn't be because of Alec right? And what happens next? Should Alec still get out of the car?

"You alright?" Magnus asked, and Alec worried he looked as dim witted as he felt.

"Yeah," Alec mumbled. "Just umm- you kinda took me off guard there."

"Sorry," Magnus smiled. "It's just- well I've been wanting to do that for a long time now."

"Really?" Alec asked, stunned. He felt his eyelids blink slowly as his mind tried to process this new information.

"Wow, you are actually surprised aren't you?" Magnus replied, taken aback.

"I-" Alec began, still totally confused. "Well yeah. I mean if you wanted to do that for so long, why didn't you?"

"Quite a few reasons," Magnus answered.

"Which you aren't going to tell me?" Alec inquired.

"I still have no idea what you thought of me kissing you," Magnus replied. "I'm afraid the inner workings of your mind are a mystery to me."

Alec shrugged "I'm simple really," he replied.

Magnus laughed, leaning forward only ever so slightly as he spoke. "You really aren't," Magnus stated. "I can usually read people like books, but not you." He paused for a moment, and as Alec had no idea what to say he didn't speak.

Slowly as if asking for permission, Magnus reached his hand up to gently cup his hand over Alec's cheek. Even such a slight touch rippled through him.

"I can see it now," Magnus spoke softly.

"See what?" Alec whispered.

"You like it when I touch you," Magnus stated as if he knew. Alec just nodded. He was rewarded with witnessing a smile form on Magnus's face.

"I thought you couldn't read me like a book?" Alec asked.

"I'm working on developing the skill," Magnus replied, "I believe it will come in handy." Then he moved closer and kissed Alec again.

The kiss was not quite as intense as the first time, but still enough to make Alec's head spin. He didn't even realize he was moving forward as Magnus pulled away to try and prolong the kiss until they broke apart.

"Oh you are gonna do me in, aren't you," Magnus whispered, or at least that's what Alec thought he said, though it made no sense.

The engine had been off a while now, and the car was getting cold, even if Alec could feel the heat in his face his hands were icy.

"You should probably head home," Magnus smiled.

"I- umm-," Alec began. He still didn't want to get out. "But-"

"What's wrong?" Magnus asked. He turned to look out as if confirming where they were. "This is where you live."

"Yes but-" Alec said. "I mean I-"

"You are adorable when you sputter," Magnus grinned, which only made it harder for Alec to talk.

"Not friends," Alec finally managed to say. "Do not-friends play video games?"

"In the right company they do just about anything," Magnus replied easily.

Alec took a deep breath before saying all at once, "You wanna come inside and play video games with me?" He had no idea what else to do. This was all very new territory for him. All he knew for sure was that he didn't want Magnus to drive away right now.

"I would love to," Magnus replied, still with his lips turned up at the edges.

"Okay good," Alec said, letting out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

Alec made sure Magnus was going for the door handle too before reaching for his own and getting out of the car. Alec heard the click of the automatic locks of Magnus's car as they walked up to the house.

Alec pulled out his key to open the door, but found his hands unsteady. The keys fell to the ground. Alec bent to get them and tried the door again. He could almost sense Magnus watching him, and it was making him nervous. He heard Magnus groan, but hadn't a clue why apart from maybe frustration at his failing to get the door open in a timely manner. Finally, the key turned in the lock and they walked inside.

"Umm," Alec said. "The video game I'm playing right now is called 'ShadowQuest'. You have to gain allies and go on quests to get rare items. Also there are boss battles at the end of every level." He paused, still facing forward and not looking directly at Magnus. "Do you want to play that?"

"If you like," Magnus replied easily, which did nothing to help Alec's nerves.

"But I want to know what you want," Alec asked, finally turning to face the other man.

"Oh, you really don't want to know what I want right now," Magnus grinned. "So let's play video games."

"Okay," Alec agreed, way too confused to argue at the moment. He sat down to start the game, suddenly very glad that Tessa had talked him into buying two controllers.

"We can make you an avatar," Alec began. "Then play in teams, or you could watch me play, or if you want to play I could watch."

"Best we play together," Magnus replied as he sat on the couch beside Alec. "Or else I might be tempted to distract you."

Alec mumbled something incoherent because getting the game set up. He honestly couldn't tell what was going through Magnus's mind at the moment. He was just glad that Magnus was still here.

"What's your avatar?" Magnus asked as Alec handed him a controller.

"Warrior," Alec said. "They have angelic power. But there are also werewolves, vampires, fairies and warlocks."

"You would be the angelic one wouldn't you," Magnus chuckled. "Very well, make me a warlock. I'd love to have magic. Sounds convient."

Alec pointed towards the screen. "You can select warlock there," he said. "In this game warlocks are half human and half demon."

They spent a while building Magnus's avatar, then began the game. Alec decided to start them off with an easy quest, a simple search and rescue.

It was strange because Alec loved this game. He'd spent hours making his avatar an archery expert, and working through quests faster than Tessa thought was healthy, but right now he couldn't focus on it. All he could think about was how Magnus hadn't kissed him since they'd entered the house. Sure they were sitting side by side, hips almost touching on the couch, but that was it.

"Pay attention Alexander," Magnus's voice broke through his thoughts. "Or that Eidolon demon is going to take you out."

"Huh what?" Alec said shaking his head as he focused his attention once more on the game.

"Saved you," Magnus said as a blue blast of magic lit up the screen, and the demon shapeshifter behind Alec's avatar died.

"Thanks," Alec smiled, his head still in the clouds.

"You're adorable," Magnus stated, turning to face him.

The video game forgotten, Alec stared at those beautiful eyes. He'd never really noticed Magnus's eyes before. They were so unique with flecks of gold mixed into the green. Without really thinking, without really understanding, Alec acted on want alone as he leaned in and kissed Magnus again. To his great relief he wasn't rejected. On the contrary, Magnus's arms wrapped around him holding him close as the kiss deepened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the super long wait between chapters guys. I've been updating my other story Roommates and Soulmates a fair bit and also I've been SUPER lazy in the writing department. ^_^ But you can be happy to hear that's I've been writing more lately and chapter 13 is already finished and should go up soon.
> 
> Also anyone who has read my first AU "Innocence Corrupts" will recognize the video game "ShadowQuest."  
> \----------------------------------------  
> Sneak Peek Chapter 13
> 
> Though his mind was fairly blank with contentment, Magnus did note that he'd never done this before. He'd never touched, caressed and teased like this without any sense of it moving past that. There was something very intimate and wonderful about it, but also something that almost scared him.
> 
> They must have been there on the couch for quite a while. The tv had gone into sleep mode long before the front door opened and burst their bubble.
> 
> Magnus jumped more than Alec did at the arrival of Tessa and Jem.
> 
> "Good evening Alec," Tessa smiled. "And always nice to see old students as well. Hello Magnus."
> 
> "Hey," Magnus said, feeling very much like a kid caught doing something they shouldn't have as he moved away from Alec on the couch.


	13. Angel

Magnus hadn't quite registered the event yet. His body had reacted automatically, but his mind was still catching up. Alec was kissing him, and not just like a peck or something. Alec was into it, pulling Magnus closer eagerly. He hardly cared that 'Magnus the warlock' and 'Alec the Angelic Warrior' had been abandoned, and were now being slaughtered by demons on the screen.

He'd been trying so hard to be good, while every fibre of his being wanted to be closer to the man beside him. It was a kinda high feeling how much Alexander wanted that too. Alexander had flung himself on top of Magnus, and was kissing him like it was all he wanted in the whole world.

Magnus wanted to lose himself in this moment. He no longer cared where he was, or what he was worth. All he wanted was to remain tangled up in Alec's arms, kissing like the world didn't matter.

But there was only one thing more important than what Magnus wanted right now.

"Alexander," Magnus whispered, pulling them apart for a moment.

"Am I doing something wrong?" Alec asked, insecurity and worry written all over his face.

"Heavens no," Magnus replied quickly, wishing he could clear that doubt from Alec's eyes. "But Alexander, I don't want you to feel pressured into anything. We can just play video games if you want."

"If that's what you want..." Alec agreed, shyly.

With a sigh, Magnus tried again. He gently placed a hand on Alec's face. "It doesn't matter what I want, beautiful angel," he whispered.

"Of course it does," Alec stated firmly.

Magnus smiled at him, in awe of the kindness behind his eyes. This isn't how people usually looked at him. Once again, Magnus found himself stroking Alec's face, and this time Alec's eyes closed at his touch.

"I have no clue what you are doing here with me," Magnus whispered.

"I wanna be here with you," Alec replied easily, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.

"For the life of me I can't understand why," Magnus whispered.

"I've never felt this way before," Alec explained. "Touching you, even just thinking about you sometimes…"

Magnus gave him space to finish speaking, but it quickly became clear that Alec didn't have the words to describe what he was feeling.

"Oh, how I wish I could knew what you are thinking," Magnus whispered when it was clear Alec wasn't going to continue.

"And I want to kiss you," Alec said suddenly. "If that's what you want..."

With a moan of surrender, Magnus pulled Alec close again and the kissing continued. Then he was kissing Alexander's neck. Fingers gently traced over exposed skin, but no clothes came off. There was something incredibly sexy about just being near each other on the couch touching the sensitive skin along the edge of clothing, and kissing whatever wanted to be kissed, but without doing more. Magnus could not remember when he'd been more aroused, but at the same time less likely to actually have sex.

"Hmmm," Alec murmured as he tried to snuggle in closer without much success since it wasn't possible for them to get any closer.

Though his mind was fairly blank with contentment, Magnus did note that he'd never done this before. He'd never touched, caressed and teased like this without any sense of it moving past that. There was something very intimate and wonderful about it, but also something that almost scared him.

They must have been there on the couch for quite a while. The tv had gone into sleep mode long before the front door opened and burst their bubble.

Magnus jumped more than Alec did at the arrival of Tessa and Jem.

"Good evening Alec," Tessa smiled. "And always nice to see old students as well. Hello Magnus."

"Hey," Magnus said, feeling very much like a kid caught doing something they shouldn't have as he moved away from Alec on the couch.

"Would you like to stay for dinner Magnus?" Jem asked. "We are having pork chops, potatoes, and salad."

"As wonderful as that sounds I don't want to impose," Magnus began. "I should probably go."

"Please stay," Alec said innocently, unaware how much power his words held over Magnus.

Magnus was torn only for a moment, then surrendered once again to Alexander's beautiful blue eyes. "Can I at least help cook?" Magnus asked.

"Guests never help," Tessa said firmly as she went over to the kitchen to get started.

"And I never recommend arguing with my wife when she'd made up her mind about something," Jem replied in a slightly sing song voice.

"How was driving practice?" Tessa asked as she stood at the counter and put groceries away.

"Good," Magnus answered first. "I think he's as prepared as I can get him for his test tomorrow."

"Thanks," Alec chimed in.

The way the living, dining room, and kitchen was laid out in this house it was very easy to see Tessa cooking from the living room couch. Still it felt rude to sit in front of a tv while someone was making him dinner, so Magnus got up to sit at a bar stool along the kitchen counter. Alec followed right behind him.

"Are you sure you don't want help?" Magnus asked as Tessa chopped potatoes.

"Really there is no need," Tessa smiled. "It's a simple dinner really. Jem will do the pork on the BBQ and I'll just make up some tin foil veggies to put alongside them."

"How was school today?" Alec asked her. His hand was on Magnus's leg, and his foot wrapped around Magnus's foot. Almost as if Alec didn't want to stop touching. Once again, Magnus could feel the warm feelings such actions involved in him while noticing the fear as well.

"The usual for October," Tessa relied. "Now that the first month is over homework is starting to pile up, and people are actually realizing they need to pay attention." She chuckled. "Teenagers can be so predictable."

"I admire your patience to deal with them," Magnus told her. "Even as a teen I couldn't do it."

She smiled. "It just takes practice. Like all things in life," she replied.

The conversation remained light until dinner was ready. Alec held Magnus's hand right up until the moment they had to move to the table to start eating.

Magnus honestly couldn't remember when he'd had a nicer evening. It was all so domestic, despite the fact that these weren't Alec's parents it felt like they were. Jem and Tessa were just what parents ought to be: supportive, nurturing and invested. Not once during dinner did they try and lecture or judge. Alec had no idea how lucky he was to have anyone support him the way Jem and Tessa did.

"Will you at least let me help with the dishes?" Magnus asked.

"That's what dishwashers are for," Tessa replied. "Besides, who can think about dishes when there is dessert?"

Magnus could not remember when he'd last spent an evening feeling like part of a family. They laughed and talked long after dessert had been consumed, all the while Alec's foot was rested up against Magnus's leg.

It felt like Magnus had walked into someone else's life, but like everything, the evening ended and he had to return to his own world.

"Thank you again for having me," Magnus was saying as he stood up.

"It was our pleasure," Tessa smiled.

"I'll walk you out," Alec said, appearing at his side.

"There's no need," Magnus reminded him with a smile. "My car is right outside."

"I know," Alec said with a smile. They waved once more to Jem and Tessa, then turned and left through the front door. Once it closed behind them Alec added, "I didn't want to kiss you goodbye in front of Jem and Tessa."

Magnus couldn't help but smile. "I see," he grinned. Alec blushed, his cheeks turning a beautiful shade of deep pink.

"And I wanted to ask," Alec continued as they walked slowly down the driveway. "Umm when will I see you again?"

They'd reached the car. Magnus turned and ever so gently press Alec up against it, leaning down so his mouth was beside Alec's ear. "Whenever you want to," Magnus whispered before turning his head to kiss Alec's mouth properly.

"Really?" Alec asked eagerly. Magnus nodded. He had no idea why he was able to be vulnerable around Alec. Maybe it was those innocent eyes, or the eagerness in his smile, but Magnus knew he was doomed.

"How about tomorrow after my test?" Alec said grinning. "I'll text you?"

"Sounds perfect," Magnus replied before opening the door to his car and getting inside.

As he drove away, Alec stood in the driveway waving at him. There was something so very wholesome about that man which was both alluring and terrifying. The way Alec had no idea how special he was, while at the same time, was sure who he was. Such a combination Magnus had never seen before.

Right then Magnus made a decision. No matter how much he didn't deserve Alec's attention he would never push Alec away. Maybe it didn't matter how much he believed he was a bad influence. Maybe it didn't matter how much he didn't deserve Alec. In the end, maybe all that mattered was what Alec believed, and what Alec wanted.

The thought quite cheered him up, and Magnus couldn't keep the grin off his face as he walked into his apartment.

"What's with the grin?" his roommate said the moment he spotted Magnus.

"Finally got to kiss Alec," Magnus explained.

"Must have been one hell of a kiss," Raphael laughed. "You look like the cheshire cat."

"Well, it was more than one kiss," Magnus sniggered.

"I'm happy for you," Raphael replied.

"Thanks," Magnus smiled.

"So I take it you are over the 'he's out of my league and I'm no good for him' stuff?" Raphael asked.

"I'm trying to be," Magnus replied. "I mean if Alec doesn't care then why should I, right?"

"Makes sense to me," Raphael shrugged. "Though I am definitely not the authority on the subject."

"I mean I'm quite a bit older than him," Magnus began. "And as far as I know I have a lot more romantic experience than him. Plus he's all wholesome and wonderful while I'm-"

"Warped and jaded," Raphael added unhelpfully.

Magnus narrowed his eyes at his best friend. "Anyway," he continued. "If we work in spite of those things than I'm just gonna go with it."

"Look at you attempting logic," Raphael said. "I'm almost proud."

"Oh shut up," Magnus scoffed. Just then they were interrupted by a binging sound from Magnus's cell phone. Reaching automatically into his pocket, Magnus checked the notification and smiled.

"See look he's already texting me," Magnus grinned. "So I can't be all that bad, can I?"

"Indeed not my friend," Raphael smiled, all traces of teasing gone. "You are better than you know."

"Thanks," Magnus chuckled. "But you have to say that as my self appointed best friend."

"I have to do nothing of the sort," Raphael replied easily as he turned back to face his computer. "But believe what you will."

Magnus looked back down to his phone, the grin returning to his face.

Magnus had no idea what Alec wanted of him. He had no idea what Alexander needed of him. The innocence of first love had long faded from Magnus's memory, and he had no idea what he was in for, but sensed somehow that he was about to get in too deep. Alarm bells were going off in his head, warning him this road would lead to heartbreak, but he didn't care. Magnus ignored them all. He put on music to drown out the sirens and tried to be brave.

One more time. He could be open and vulnerable with just one more person before his fragile heart gave out. One last chance at love before he gave up and started collecting cats.

Like a fly in a spider's web Magnus had been caught. Ensnared by an angel, trapped in the gaze of those brilliant blue eyes. And Magnus knew that whatever the angel wanted of him, the demon would give until he had nothing left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you think of this chapter? I know I don't have many Magnus POV chapters for this story as it mostly focuses on Alec, but I hope you enjoy them all the same. :)  
> \--------------------------------------------  
> Sneak Peek Chapter 14
> 
> "If I'd known I'd be spending the day elbow deep in dirt I wouldn't have bothered doing my nails yesterday," Abby was complaining.
> 
> "That's what the gloves are for," Alec reminded her. They were both after all wearing gardening gloves.
> 
> "Even with the gloves I'll be spending days getting the dirt out from my cuticle beds," Abby explained.
> 
> "But paycheck," Alec reminded her.
> 
> "Mom's my boss," Abby counted. "I work, she pays me then I pay her rent. It's feeling just a bit rigged." She pause then added, "I mean it isn't much rent but still."
> 
> "Definitely sounds rigged to me," Alec sided with her, trying to be a good friend.
> 
> "Oh I almost forgot," Abby exclaimed. "You had your test yesterday. Did you get your license?"


End file.
